Education

National experts on admissions and financial aid said the policy was the first of its kind. Seton Hall officials said they hoped it would provide clarity and certainty up front to the most desirable applicants, easing the weeks and months of stress that admitted students face as they wait to hear how much financial aid they might get from different campuses.
“The primary motivation has been that as we go through what looks like a double-dip recession, we wanted to help our students,” Seton Hall’s president, Gabriel Esteban, said of the new approach. But in addition, he said, “it probably will help us in attracting a certain quality of students.”
To qualify for the discount, which would equal about two-thirds of this year’s $31,440 tuition (room, board and other fees add about $13,000 to the total annual bill), students must graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes and have a combined score of at least 1,200 on their math and reading SATs — but no less than 550 on ...