As if to reinforce the concerns of Roger Leheka and Andrew Delbanco (see post below), the Hartford Courant reports that “the number of low-income students at Yale is declining.”

In recent years, Harvard and Yale universities, and others, have boosted financial aid and expanded recruiting to draw more students of modest means.

A study by Iowa scholar Tom Mortenson indicates mixed results. Many of the universities rated “best” by U.S. News and World Report showed a declining enrollment of students with federal Pell grants — need-based grants to promote access to postsecondary education.

His study shows that Harvard increased its number of Pell students by 53 percent in the past decade, while Yale saw a decline of 14 percent. A recent study by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education puts Harvard’s percentage of Pell students at 12 percent, and Yale’s at 9 percent.

And here’s something I didn’t expect:

Columbia University, with a 15 percent share, still leads the Ivy League in income diversity, although its percentage of Pell students has fallen from 29 percent in 1983, the study found.

I wonder if Pell Grants is the best way to measure this issue, but I’d be curious to hear someone who knows more about this than I comment…..