The public focuses, understandably, on rising college tuition rates, but the actual cost of higher education is not covered by tuition. At Cornell University, for example, the cost of education per student is approximately double the price of tuition, and that holds for many other institutions of higher education as well. In effect, tuition is subsidized for all students, whether they qualify for aid or not. The remainder of the revenue required to pay for education comes from university endowments, gifts, and government support. Cornell is one of the wealthiest institutions of higher education in the country, and it has increased grants and reduced loans for low-income students. It cannot, however, provides the complete substitution of grants for loans that some even wealthier institutions have begun to offer low-income and middle-income students. Cornell has the 18th-largest college endowment nationwide, but it faces its own economic challenges with the lowest per-student endowment among its Ivy League peers and a relatively high proportion of students receiving aid. In this article, the author explains the reasons why Cornell cannot meet all financial need with grant aid.