As President Garber said in the announcement, “Putting Harvard within financial reach for more individuals widens the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that all of our students encounter, fostering their intellectual and personal growth. By bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University.”
It is also a statement about priorities, highlighting student access to Harvard, as FAS embarks on what may be a protracted, and uncomfortable, reexamination of its resources.