Penn to offer loan-free aid

Move follows similar announcement by Harvard last week

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Posted Tuesday Dec. 18 In the latest shake-up to Ivy League financial-aid policies, the University of Pennsylvania announced Monday that it would eliminate all loans from student aid packages within two years.

Beginning next September, families with annual incomes under $100,000 will receive loan-free aid packages from the university, while families making more than that will be burdened with 10 percent fewer loans. By fall 2009, all undergraduates eligible for financial aid will receive loan-free aid packages, the university said in a press release.

Penn’s aid budget will increase by more than 20 percent, to more than $110 million a year, as a result of the move.

“This represents a tremendous commitment — and enormous investment — on Penn’s part to increasing access for thousands of students,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said in a statement.

The policy shift comes on the heels of Harvard’s announcement last Monday that it would reduce the family contribution expected of families making up to $180,000 per year and eliminate all student loans.

Princeton did away with student loans in 2001. Yale still includes loans as part of its financial-aid packages.

After Harvard’s announcement last week, University President Richard Levin said Yale would make a “major announcement” on undergraduate financial aid in early January, although he declined to disclose any details of the planned reforms at the time.

“It seems that a number of schools are making improvements in their aid programs, and we think this is good news for families,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeff Brenzel said in an e-mail Tuesday. “As President Levin has said, we’ll have a major announcement in January for Yale.”

Yale’s last major reform of its financial-aid policies came in March 2005, when it eliminated the parental contribution for families making less than $45,000 and reduced contributions for families making between $45,000 and $60,000.

None 4 years, 4 months ago

In response to the last post, you may be right about PhD positions to a certain extent - although I know funding for that is very troublesome at most universities, as the PhD student may receive stipends, but not really enough to live on...which is tough when you're in school for 5-8 years.

But you shouldn't lump together all graduate students with PhD students. The students in the professional schools (law, medicine, architecture, business) are all paying $30-50k in tuition per year with significantly worse financial aid than undergraduates. Sure, many of these students may go on to make enough money to pay the loans back rather quickly - but the same could be said about all the undergraduates who go in droves to become investment bankers, so it really is unfair that professional students get worse aid than undergrads. Also, many of the professional students (especially the architects) end up not earning much for decades after getting their degrees, leaving the tuition to be a lifelong burden.

None 4 years, 5 months ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't all graduate students at Yale receive a large amount of money (as compared to students, not compared to those who are working in actual jobs) in order to fund their education? I'm not trying to devalue the education that graduate students receive or the services that they provide toward the undergraduate population, but I don't see any grad student paying $50K in tuition. (Plus, although all form of tertiary education is ultimately optional, I would argue that for any degree of career and societal success many more people experience undergraduate education, and undergrad education is more "essential," while graduate school is more of a luxury. No one is forcing you to get a PhD in British literature, after all, while if you don't get an undergrad education it's difficult to get a good job.)

None 4 years, 5 months ago

My daughter will be in the class of 2012. Within 5 minutes she found out, she clicked the button. Needless to say how passionate she is to Yale. She won't go to any other schools even she would be paid to go. As a parent, I support her choice, yet I put all my faith in Yale and hope (believe) that Yale can come up with a competetive financial aid.

I know some kids who chose Harvard over yale under their parents' pressure. Now with Harvard's attractive finacial initiative, these parents will have more persuative power. Some parents even asked me if my daughter is going to apply for Harvard too. The answer is no, she loves Yale and we trust yale! But I know not that many kids are as strong willed.

I believe that a generous financial aid will be eventually paid off by students who truly appreciate the opportunity of getting Yale education.

None 4 years, 5 months ago

This "major announcement" should apply to ALL Yale students, not only undergraduates. The debt burden is much greater for many graduate students because there is far more (external) scholarship support at the undergraduate level, making it very difficult for graduate students to afford their education.

Harvard's aid budget will be about $120,000,000, but spread over only 6,500 undergraduates.

I predict Yale's budget will increase to about $100,000,000 for 5,200 undergraduates, putting it on par or slightly above Harvard.

What do you think?

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Penn to offer loan-free aid

Move follows similar announcement by Harvard last week