Dartmouth College is ahead of the curve with its latest decision to remove all federal and institutional loans from its undergraduate financial aid awards and replace them with scholarship grants.
Dartmouth undergraduates who come from families with an annual income of $125,000 or less who possess typical assets are offered need-based financial aid without a required loan component, NBC News reported.
Dartmouth is now removing the loan requirement for its undergraduates coming from families with an annual income of more than $125,000 who receive need-based financial aid. The decision will decrease the debt burden placed on hundreds of middle-income Dartmouth students and their families by an average of $22,000 over the students’ four years, the school announced in a news release Monday.
In 2018, The Call to Lead fundraising initiative began and has deepened the college’s commitment to making college education accessible and affordable for the most promising and talented students from around the world and from all economic backgrounds, President Philip Hanlon stated.
Over 65 families supported the efforts and goal to do away with loan requirements from Dartmouth’s undergraduate financial aid awards, committing more than $80 million in gifts to the endowment.
Dartmouth will be among Ivy League peers Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University in adopting no-loan policies.
