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Stanford lower income students benefits from change in financial aid policy
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Stanford has revised its financial aid policy, reducing the financial burden on lower income students. However, such policies are not available to all universities. - photo by Leslie Corbly
Stanford University announced it will waive tuition for students whose parents have less than $125,000 in annual income. Students whose parents' income is less than $65,000 will also have fees for room and board waived, reported PBS.

Although Stanford does not require lower-income students to pay tuition, they do require the students to make an annual contribution of $5,000 toward college expenses through summer employment while in college, reported Vox.

Our highest priority is that Stanford remain affordable and accessible to the most talented students, regardless of their financial circumstances, Stanford provost John Etchemendy said in a statement.

Harvard waives tuition for students whose parents make less than $65,000. For those students whose parents make between $65,000 and $150,000, they are required to pay anywhere from 0-10 percent of their income toward tuition, according to PBS.

Princeton also has a similar policy, making no tuition requirements of students whose parents make less than $140,000 and waiving all room and board fees for those families that make less than $60,000, reports CNN.

Stanford was recently ranked No. 4 in the U.S. News & World Report national university rankings. This year, the school admitted just five percent of a record number of applicants. Of those admitted, 16 percent will be the first member of their family to attend college, according to CNN.

Such financial aid policies work well for universities with a disproportionately high number of wealthy students. In 2012, only 14 percent of freshmen entering Stanford received federal Pell Grants. Nationally, 41 percent of undergraduates receive federal Pell Grants to assist with the cost of education, wrote Libby Nelson for Vox.

In addition to the number of wealthy students enrolled, Stanford also ranks as one of the worlds richest universities, with an endowment of $21 billion, reported Vox.