Much hand-wringing has gone on recently over the dramatic rise in college tuition, but one prominent university has taken steps to combat that.

Last month, Stanford University announced it would no longer charge tuition to most families that make less than $100,000 per year. Neither tuition nor room and board would be charged to families with an annual income of less than $60,000.

It’s a radical change, but one that has some company among the largest universities across the country.

“The No. 1 pressure came from parents of our current students who were asking us loudly and clearly for assistance,” said Karen Cooper, Stanford’s director of financial aid. “At the same time, we do compete with each other.”

Cooper said Stanford leaders wanted to send the message that students should not be excluded from a university they could otherwise get into because its sticker price is higher than they think their family can afford. Cooper stressed, though, that Stanford is still just as competitive as before; it’s just offering more aid to those who can get in.

And while Stanford’s decision generated a lot of publicity for the Palo Alto, Calif., university, admissions leaders in Kansas say it won’t affect the students who enroll here. However, it may change the expectations of those students.

“You see in the mainstream news media stories about Harvard and Stanford and their new financial aid policies, and sometimes people have the same expectations at other institutions,” said Lee Furbeck, interim director of admissions and scholarships at Kansas University.

Though the universities have different capabilities and missions, Furbeck said KU shares Stanford’s goal of making college more affordable for students.

“We have slightly more scholarship funds for the upcoming school year, but not a lot,” she said. “We would like to have more, but we do what we can to help folks with what we have.”

Louise Cummings-Simmons, vice president of enrollment management and financial aid at Baker University, said Baker has students quite often who want or need more financial aid. But she said she didn’t think decisions at large schools on the coasts affected potential Baker students much.

“Now if some of our local competitors in the private sector were to do that, it would hurt us,” she said.

But Cummings-Simmons said she does notice students who will try to play one school’s financial aid package off another to try to get more money.

“I know that parents and students for many years have been aware this is a negotiating business,” Cummings-Simmons said.

All told, the Stanford proposal will cost the university an additional $20 million per year, the majority of which will come from an increased expenditure from endowment funds. Under the proposal, Stanford will spend 5.5 percent of its endowment to help fund a $97.2 million financial aid program.