University President Henry Bienen gave his annual State of the University speech to an crowd at Baldwin Auditorium on the Chicago campus Thursday morning.

While the speech was mainly a recitation of various achievements announced during the previous year, Bienen did make some remarks at the beginning pertaining to current disputes over the amount Northwestern currently spends on financial aid.

Bienen led his remarks on the subject by saying he was not eager to discuss it.

“I’m hesitant to talk about finances,” he said. “But I will do so because they are so foundational to our efforts to pursue the highest order of excellence in teaching, research and service.”

While NU currently has an endowment of about $7 billion, NU is in no way hoarding funds at the expense of financial aid, he said. As an example, he mentioned the recent decision to expand grants to low-income students and cap all federal student loans at $20,000 over four years.

NU also will provide more funding to graduate students for financial aid and stipends, while all Ph.D students will receive full health coverage, he said.

These policies would broaden NU’s appeal, Bienen said.

“Our new no-loan and loan-cap initiatives should aid us in increasing the number of low- and moderate-income students who come to Northwestern.”