Despite the recent economic downturn, Cornell announced its plan to increase need-based financial aid to students and families. The plan, following a financial aid initiative announced last January, will allow many Cornell students to graduate debt-free and will relieve some of the enormous economic burden placed on lower to middle class income bracket families.

“In the current volatile and difficult economic circumstances, many current and prospective college students and their families are concerned about the affordability of a university education. Particularly at this unsettling time, Cornell University must open its doors even wider,” President David Skorton stated in a press release.

It’s about time the world’s largest democracy got some attention around these parts.

Last month’s $50 million gift from a philanthropic fund largely controlled by mega-industrialist Ratan Tata ’62 will go a long way towards strengthening Cornell’s academic and human ties with India, and the half of the gift allocated to endow scholarships for Indians in need will do much to increase the economic diversity of the international student body. “Any person ... any study,” indeed.

It’s true that Cornell has been involved with India on issues like health and agriculture for more than 50 years. Last year, President David Skorton even visited. But of late, Old Uncle Ezra’s wandering eye has more often explored his infatuation with the world’s largest unfree state, China.

According to Robert Massa of Dickson College, “What we’ve done in higher education is let our dreams and aspirations dictate our cost structure.” Due to the financial crisis, this prodigal era of “dreams and aspirations” may finally be over.

This past Tuesday, Cornell implemented a hiring pause, a delay on new construction, and other cost-saving measures. The contract colleges are especially hard hit. According to a dean in the ILR School, administrators — rather than tenured faculty — may have to teach some classes, while existing faculty may be allotted fewer teaching assistants.

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12 days after classes started, about 750 students’ financial aid applications are still being processed due to complications from the implementation of PeopleSoft. PeopleSoft replaced JustTheFacts software and now manages students’ personal, academic, bursar and financial aid information.

“PeopleSoft is certainly the major factor in the delay,” Doris Davis, associate provost for admissions and enrollment, stated in an email. She cited late student applications as another cause.

“We want to encourage students who are in urgent situations to come to the Office of Financial Aid and speak to a financial aid counselor,” she added.

In an effort to avert a potential student-lending crisis, the House of Representatives passed the HR 5715 bill on April 17, to guarantee students and their parents continued access to federal student loan programs.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, “More than 50 lenders have left [the] program in recent weeks, amid a credit crunch that has rippled across the financial sector, making many types of lending less profitable.”

Zach Biegun ’11 is not your typical Cornell student. He does not really like to drink or go out. He is 24 years old. He postponed college for three and a half years to pursue his passion in ballet. He is the 12th person in his family to attend Cornell: His sister majored in anthropology, his brother in mechanical engineering, his mother in art history and his grandfather in animal food science. He works two jobs, as a yoga instructor in Helen Newman and as an Emergency Medical Technician in Boston on weekends. Oh, and he’s homeless.