The S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program has reduced the amount of scholarship money offered to applicants, due to a limited amount of funding and to the growth of the program. While honors students were previously eligible for scholarships up to $36,600 (a full scholarship), the modifications reduce the honors merit scholarship to $30,000.
When the S. Daniel Abraham Honor Program at Stern was created fifteen years ago, the plan was for the program to include ninety students. Yet, it has since grown far beyond this original vision. According to Dr. Cynthia Wachtell, the director of the Honors program, there are approximately 160 honors students currently enrolled.
Rabbi Kenneth Brander, the vice president for University and Community Life of Yeshiva University, explained this financial change in context of the broader picture of the university.
49-million dollars for merit and needs based aid are distributed annually. With a third of that money going towards merit based aid, the university decided to analyze how to best allocate these funds, with assistance from Noel Levitz, a leading consultant in the field of university tuition. Following months of research, and taking into account the tuition discount rate of 52%, Noel Levitz helped the university come to the conclusion that the Early Decision and merit-based honors scholarship needed to be reduced.
Will this change in policy prove detrimental to the Honors program? Research indicates that the answer is no. Rabbi Brander explained, “Students want to join the honors program based on the quality of the program. They don’t need to be ‘bought-out’ to join Yeshiva University.”
These findings would seem to correspond with the fact that this year, 62 students out of the 63 that applied accepted their awarded early-decision scholarships at the reduced rate.
The Honors Program boasts an impressive event calendar, which this semester includes visits to Yeshiva University’s Museum, Lincoln Center for a ballet, and Carnegie Hall. Honors students need not be concerned that the honors event will similarly suffer. According to Dr. Wachtell, the change in scholarships should not affect the quality of or amount of money spent on the honors events.
There is hope that the new policy will leave more funds for need-based scholarships. According to Rabbi Brander, lowering the scholarships “simply leaves more funds to give out to others in need of scholarship.”