Ivy League university sports teams are winning championships again, as enhanced financial aid packages have erased much of the disadvantage recruiters have labored under since the league banned athletic scholarships at its formation in 1954. While financial aid is still awarded based on need only, these endowment-rich universities have in recent years eliminated student loans and more than doubled the size of grants aimed at middle class families:

At most Ivy League institutions, families earning less than about $65,000 annually are now asked to make no contribution to their children’s education. Families making $65,000 to $180,000 might be expected to pay 10 percent to 18 percent of their annual income on a sliding scale. Ten years ago, such families would have been expected to pay almost twice as much, and their child would probably have accumulated a debt of about $25,000 after four years.

The result is that where once only the very richest and poorest athlete/scholars could afford to pass up full scholarships from non-Ivy schools, many middle class students are finding these prestigious degrees as affordable as their local public universities.

Appleman, like more than a dozen other coaches interviewed, said at least half of her recent recruits were from middle-class families who would not have attended Yale, or any Ivy League university, even five years ago.

“I can tell the demographics of my team are changing because not everyone is going to Cancún for spring break,” she said, laughing. “The middle-class kids are going home.”

The same generous, loan-free financial aid packages are awarded to non-athletes as well, making the Ivies a downright bargain for those select few middle class students with the academic chops to get in. And it's an emphasis on making higher education more affordable to the middle class that seems to be the opposite of what's going on here in Washington state.

“Financial aid hasn’t kept up with tuition for the middle class,” admits University of Washington assistant vice president for enrollment Philip Ballinger, although he insists the Ivy League example can be true for some students, it gives an "inaccurate picture" overall, as it "does not apply to the vast majority of families." For example, the highly selective Ivy League schools accept between only 7 and 18 percent of applicants, whereas Balinger says that the UW accepts over 60 percent of resident freshman applications.

And even after several straight years of double-digit tuition increases, compared to most other schools, says Balinger, the UW's $10,574 in resident undergraduate tuition and fees "is still a bargain."

Maybe. But with another 20 percent tuition hike on the horizon, and no slowdown in sight, whether the UW will continue to be a bargain for middle class Washingtonians remains to be seen. State Representative Reuven Carlyle, who sponsored the legislation that granted the UW tuition setting authority, emphasizes that the $124 million increase to the state need grant in the current biennium was the only substantial program increase in a budget that was slashed by $5 billion, but with 30,000 students statewide already not getting the financial aid for which they qualify, Carlyle admits that "the middle class is getting squeezed."

“I completely and readily acknowledge that there remains a substantial unmet need, says Carlyle, “but we're peddling as fast as we can.”

Not fast enough, however, to keep our top students from being poached by the Ivies.