Thirty years ago my dream was to attend Harvard University. One of my best friends had enrolled there two years earlier. I wanted to join him at Harvard, and to join its community of young scholars and future leaders. Unfortunately, I was not admitted. My test scores were below-average and my previous educational background was not as rigorous or as rich as I would have wished. I still wanted to be there and would have worked as hard as possible to succeed. Although Harvard said no, Duke University said yes!

Duke University opened doors for me. It allowed me to study with some of the best and brightest young scholars in the country. The experience at Duke transformed the trajectory of my life. And it has been my wish ever since that more young people might have similar access to great academic centers. Duke was demanding and exciting. It had so many great teachers and students. It offered an amazing learning environment. It prepared me for law school.

Earlier this week, Harvard announced its most ambitious plan yet to ensure greater access to middle- and upper-income students. Under the new initiative, students whose families earn between $120,000 and $180,000 per year, will pay no more than ten percent of their annual household income, $12,000 to $18,000, respectively, for tuition. This means that for some lucky students, they will be able to attend Harvard for about the same costs of attending a state university.

This increased access, follows earlier schemes at Princeton, Yale, Penn, Stanford, Harvard, Duke, and other elite schools to open their doors to students from families earning less than $50,000–$60,000 on a tuition-free basis.

I hope this is the start of something extraordinary and I appreciate the leadership shown by the Trustees of these elite schools. We need more elite schools across the country to join the effort.

As I suggested earlier, educational opportunities at Duke and UCLA School of Law opened doors for me. I was able to move out of an urban ghetto and to learn to study. I was able to explore ideas and to become a productive citizen. President Faust of Harvard is correct—"Education is access."

Harvard’s plan is exceptional because it conceives of access beyond rich and poor families. Its goal is to help more families afford the full "Harvard Experience," that is the in and out of class, on- and off-campus life.

I am optimistic that many other elite schools with billion dollar endowments will follow Harvard. I am also hopeful that more state universities will develop new initiatives to expand the cross-section of students who can afford to enroll in the flagship state universities across the country.

My guess is that most Americans attend public colleges, universities, and regional community colleges. So long as that is the case, those schools must also open their doors through creative programs to reduce or eliminate tuition for students from families earning below $50,000 and expand grants and work study opportunities over loans for middle- and upper-income families. They might also initiate loan forgiveness plans to reduce the overall educational debt which saddles so many college graduates. Harvard’s plan is also brilliant because it reduces the competition between lower- and middle-class kids, and sends the ancillary message that children who work hard and prepare themselves may get a shot, even if they could not otherwise afford to attend at usual rates.

I never believed I deserved better educational opportunities than other students. But I have always believed I deserved the same chance to learn, especially in the earliest years of life.

With leading private and public schools expanding programs at the top, it is also time to rapidly expand programs at the bottom of the pipeline to ensure that there are thousands of talented students prepared to take advantage of greater access. We need more public leadership in every state to expand early literacy opportunities and pre-K learning.

Even if our courts refuse to protect a right to educational access, schools can lead the way to improving the life chances of millions of Americans by opening doors to our best schools.