NEW YORK: Harvard Princeton and Columbia universities reported record-low freshman admission rates for the 2013-2014 academic year as applications climbed above or held near all-time highs.Harvard offered seats to 2,029 students, or 5.8 per cent of a record 35,023 applicants, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school said on Thursday in a statement.Yale accepted 6.7 per cent, Princeton offered admission to 7.3 per cent and Columbia accepted 6.89%, the schools said in statements. Top US colleges that offer generous financial aid are luring record numbers of applicants even as the cost to attend increases faster than the pace of inflation and the number of high school graduates declines.The Common Application, an online form that lets students apply to multiple schools, has helped drive the surge, said Robin Mamlet, former dean of admissions at Stanford University. “More students are going for their reach or dream colleges through the use of the Common App,” Mamlet said in a phone interview.In years past, completing laborious paperwork for each school limited the number that most students applied to, Mamlet said. “That barrier has been taken away.” Yale, in New Haven, Connecticut, offered admission to 1,991 students, and expects 1,350 to attend, the college said in a statement.It received 29,610 applications. It admitted 6.8 per cent last year. Princeton accepted 1,931 students from a pool of almost 26,500, and expects about 1,290 to attend, the Princeton, New Jersey-based school said. A year ago, it accepted 7.9 per cent, a record low at the time.FINANCIAL AIDThe four schools, which make up half of the northeastern US-based Ivy League , are among the wealthiest universities in the US. They are “need blind” institutions, where a student’s ability to pay isn’t taken into consideration for admissions .Harvard increased its financialaid budget for the coming year by 5.8 per cent to $182 million, the school said earlier this week. Almost 60 per cent of the new freshman class will need assistance, said financial-aid director Sarah Donahue. Much of the application increase over the past few years has been driven by students seeking Harvard’s aid, said William Fitzsimmons , dean of admissions and financial aid, in a phone interview.Harvard hasn’t increased marketing to potential applicants because it would be “counterproductive to invite people into a pool and then turn them down,” Fitzsimmons said.