Yani Freemark sets forth the agenda for financial aid reform which today we delivered to Yale's leadership:

...several universities have stepped in the right direction in efforts to increase the number of enrolled students from less prosperous backgrounds. Harvard, for instance, has pledged to increase recruitment in rural and low-income areas that currently are the hometowns of few Ivy League graduates. Our rival to the north has also made it clear that it will expect no family contributions from students whose families have annual incomes of $40,000 or less. We ask Yale to make similar pledges. By increasing recruitment and eliminating family contributions for the poorest applicants, Yale can maintain its high standards while boosting its number of low-income students. Second, we seek to decrease the financial burdens on Yale students. Currently, students on financial aid are expected to contribute $4,200 of self-help (outside of the family contribution) each year. Because students cannot meet this through work, some are forced to take out loans. This "student contribution" portion is too high, and should be halved so that it can be met by a student working for 10 hours a week at Yale without loans. Similarly, we ask Yale to reform the summer contribution requirement system (currently $1,650 for freshmen and $2,150 for upperclassmen) in order to make it simpler for students to intern at non-profit agencies or to work at summer jobs that pay less than is needed to fulfill the requirement. Those on financial aid should not be forced to compromise any of the options offered to them as Yale students. Our University should make all possible efforts to level the playing field between those on aid and those fortunate enough not to need it. For international students, we propose an increase in the number of paid trips home from once in four years to one trip home each year. It is unreasonable to expect foreign students to see their families only once in their four-year career at Yale. Finally, we encourage the financial aid office here to increase its transparency and accountability. Students both on and off financial aid know little about the system, and so we propose a mandatory information session on aid and employment issues for freshmen. We also ask the office to publish more data on the economic make-up of the Yale student body. If our University is, in fact, a model for other universities on aid issues, Yale should be willing to disclose the positive outcomes of its efforts.