2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: News
Differing aid policies lead to similar results | Interactive Feature
Brown, Stanford eliminate tuition payments for some; U. says payments at Penn basically the same
Alyssa Schwenk
"Currently, for the typical student from a family [with an income] under $60,000, we're already covering tuition with grant," he said.
Starting next year, the University will extend no-loan packages to students with family incomes under $100,000. All other aid-eligible students will receive a 10-percent reduction in loans next year, and beginning in fall 2009, all aid packages will be loan-free.
Though only a handful of the most selective schools have announced expanded student-aid programs, the steady pace of announcements has been a positive surprise, according to Roland King, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
According to King, college affordability has moved to the forefront of higher-education policy in the past few years due to calls from Congress for greater accountability.
The greater scrutiny has "encouraged institutions to look a lot more critically and maybe more aggressively to contain costs and make education affordable," he said.
At Penn, the new aid initiatives started when President Amy Gutmann laid out her Penn Compact at the beginning of her term, said Bonnie Gibson, vice president of the office of budget and management analysis.
Gutmann's pledge "has been far more of a [driving force] than trying to keep up with what our peers are doing," Gibson said.
Starting next year, the University will extend no-loan packages to students with family incomes under $100,000. All other aid-eligible students will receive a 10-percent reduction in loans next year, and beginning in fall 2009, all aid packages will be loan-free.
Though only a handful of the most selective schools have announced expanded student-aid programs, the steady pace of announcements has been a positive surprise, according to Roland King, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.
According to King, college affordability has moved to the forefront of higher-education policy in the past few years due to calls from Congress for greater accountability.
The greater scrutiny has "encouraged institutions to look a lot more critically and maybe more aggressively to contain costs and make education affordable," he said.
At Penn, the new aid initiatives started when President Amy Gutmann laid out her Penn Compact at the beginning of her term, said Bonnie Gibson, vice president of the office of budget and management analysis.
Gutmann's pledge "has been far more of a [driving force] than trying to keep up with what our peers are doing," Gibson said.
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alounder
Andy
posted 2/27/08 @ 11:03 AM EST
I know we all like to think Penn is independent and leading the world. The truth is, no one is leading the world on this. We're all dragging our feet and placating congress so that they don't start dipping their fingers into our coffers at will (revoking tax-exempt status, requiring us to spend a proportion of our endowments, etc. (Continued…)
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