Aiding Students, Buying Students: Financial Aid in America

Acknowledgments

   xi Acknowledgments A fourteen-year project can rack up a lot of debts. At the very start, two authorities on financial aid—Larry Gladieux and Bruce Johnstone—welcomed me into the field and sent me some key writing. Much later, Larry gave informed encouragement when it was much needed. Among the many financial aid professionals and others who gave me quality time (listed in Appendix 3), four provided exceptional support extending way beyond their own institutions’ affairs. Joe Case of Amherst befriended the project and me almost from the start and informed it at every point with his huge knowledge of modern financial aid and its recent history. Carol Hoffman, formerly of the Access Program (Lorain County, Ohio), read several draft chapters, made valuable comments, and hooked me into an e-mail service, the excellent National College Access Network, which made all the difference in keeping me up to date. Mary Morrison of Stanford fed me national surveys and reports I had missed and capped that with expert comments on the glossary (Appendix 4). Joe Russo of Notre Dame gave rapid responses on important issues and, as editor of the Journal of Student Financial Aid, published my first piece on the subject. I hasten to add that none of these good friends, or any others thanked in these acknowledgments, necessarily agrees with all my judgments and conclusions. At the University of Sussex, Ted Tapper, an authority on the political economy of British higher education, was deeply involved in the project’s issues; he also helped me find me find the right publisher. Other Sus- xii   Aiding Students, Buying Students sex colleagues, too, gave help and encouragement: Bob Benewick, Colin Brooks, Steve Burman, Penny Chaloner, Steve Fender, Vivien Hart, Michael Hawkins, and Angus Ross. Sussex itself supported much of the work by enabling me to crisscross the United States as a study-abroad adviser and salesperson for the university. It is ironic that if I had been based at an American university, I would probably have been unable to visit so many American campuses over so many years. Britain’s Economic and Social Research Council gave financial aid to the project with two grants: one at the beginning for a pilot study of Amherst and Smith Colleges, and another one later for transcribing interviews . At the College Board, Mike Johanek, editor of the board’s centennial collection of essays (A Faithful Mirror, 2001), encouraged the work by taking a long preview chapter from me. I also thank the board and Peter McCormick, editor of College Board Review, for letting me lift part of my Review article “Quarreling about Merits” (Winter 2004) for use in this book. I wish I could thank by name all the college archivists and assistant archivists who expedited my research with efficiency and thoughtfulness. Prime among them must be Roland Baumann, archivist at Oberlin, where I did a big case study. Roland not only knew his stuff inside out but went beyond the papers with perceptive comments on Oberlin culture and politics , past and present. For special acts of kindness and help, I should also mention Tom Frusciano at Rutgers archives; Bill King at Duke; Mike Martin at UNC, Chapel Hill; Patrick Quinn at Northwestern; and Nanci Young at Princeton and later at Smith. In my travels across the country, several friends repeatedly gave me shelter and much more—good company and local insights and contacts. I thank Diana Barringer, Mariana Berry, Susi Lanyi, Howard Nenner, Jane Sanders, and Pamela White. Howard, in particular, encouraged my work from the beginning; Susi provided a midwest clipping service; and Pamela helped devise the book’s title. But of course I had a home base camp too: my own family. Through the highs and lows of the project, my wife Mary gave a support that was creative and shrewd as well as loving. A stringent critic of academic prose, she spent many hours on my copy despite a big working week in her own career. Camilla gave all kinds of help, from advice on tricky paragraphs to knowing what to send where, if, as the British put it, I “stepped under a bus.” Clara bid me ask the key questions more graphically: what I Acknowledgments   xiii have always called the “Clara Questions” are on p. 11. Matthew, skilled at pruning dramatic scripts, amiably quoted William Goldman: “kill all your darlings.” I tried to obey him—sometimes. Son-in...