I’ve recently been critical of large higher education institutions for how they haven’t been using their formidable endowments, to expand education opportunities for more students. Harvard and Stanford in particular deserve considerable attention for what they do and don’t do with their multi-billion dollar investment funds, but today I want to point out something that Stanford is doing that is worthy of praise. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a trend among top tier and very wealthy universities.

In a radical change to its financial aid program, Stanford University will announce today that it will no longer charge tuition to students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year.

[From Stanford drops tuition for some students]