The YDN covers yesterday's rally:

Calling on Yale to improve its financial aid policy, about 125 students gathered in the Woolsey Rotunda Monday, rallying in support of the Undergraduate Organizing Committee's platform for financial aid reform, which urges Yale to halve student self-help levels and reduce family contribution levels. Featuring several student speakers, the purpose of the rally was to pressure Yale President Richard Levin to personally meet with students to discuss changes to the University's financial aid policy, UOC member Josh Eidelson '06 said. The UOC is calling on Yale to increase economic diversity among its student body, decrease students' financial burden, and increase the transparency and accountability of the financial aid office. One of the central proposals of the UOC platform is to cut self-help levels in half from the current amount of $4,200, which all students on financial aid must pay, to $2,100, so that it can be met by a campus job of 10 hours per week. In comparison, Harvard's self-help level is set at $3,500 and Princeton's self help levels range from $2,465 to $2,925, depending on students' grade levels. As a result of these lower self-help levels, students at Harvard work an average of 10 to 12 hours per week, while students at Princeton work about nine hours a week on average, according to the universities' financial aid fact sheets. Students at Yale who receive financial aid currently work about 14 to 15 hours a week on average, Yale Financial Aid Director Myra Smith said.