CMC Joins Ranks of No-Loan Schools
College to eliminate loans, offer more scholarship grants
Michael Wilner
Last Updated: 5/1/08 Section: News
(3/15/08) -- At its annual retreat this week in Newport Beach, Claremont McKenna College's Board of Trustees opted to replace student loans with scholarship grants, joining a small group of elite colleges who can afford to do so. Current students returning to CMC in the Fall will have grants in place of loans, and all packages will henceforth be strictly scholarship and grant money.
Amherst College in Massachusetts was the first liberal arts college to eliminate loans in July 2007. Williams followed in November, Swarthmore and Pomona in December, and Bowdoin in January 2008.
The cost of eliminating loans keeps such an option open to only the wealthiest colleges. Middlebury and Carleton, for example, which both have larger endowments than CMC, have reduced the number of loans they offer but have not eliminated them completely.
When asked how the college intends to pay for the new policy, William Lowery, CMC Vice President for Development and External Relations, said that the money will come from an endowed fund set up a number of years ago for the purpose of providing interest-free loans. "The language of the creating document included the possibility of using the funds to provide scholarship grants, instead of loans, and that is what the Board of Trustees decided to do," Lowery told the CI recently.
Today, though CMC financial aid packages are based on demonstrated need, many families choose to borrow additional funds from other sources. Under the new plan, they will still be able to do so.
The more generous financial aid policy will help CMC attract applicants in an increasingly competitive academic marketplace. While the wealthiest liberal arts colleges have started to change their aid policies to make college more affordable to students, research institutions such as Harvard and Stanford, with endowments in the tens of billions, have even more resources to cut tuition. For example, Harvard recently moved to cut costs of enrollment by up to 50% for students from middle-income families.
Still, according to administrators at both schools, CMC and Pomona already meet all demonstrated need of their applicants. Both also have need-blind admissions policies.
An announcement of the new no-loans policy is scheduled for Monday, March 17, 2008 and will coincide with the kickoff of the school's landmark capital campaign.
Michael Wilner is a freshman at CMC.
Charles Johnson contributed to this report.
Amherst College in Massachusetts was the first liberal arts college to eliminate loans in July 2007. Williams followed in November, Swarthmore and Pomona in December, and Bowdoin in January 2008.
The cost of eliminating loans keeps such an option open to only the wealthiest colleges. Middlebury and Carleton, for example, which both have larger endowments than CMC, have reduced the number of loans they offer but have not eliminated them completely.
When asked how the college intends to pay for the new policy, William Lowery, CMC Vice President for Development and External Relations, said that the money will come from an endowed fund set up a number of years ago for the purpose of providing interest-free loans. "The language of the creating document included the possibility of using the funds to provide scholarship grants, instead of loans, and that is what the Board of Trustees decided to do," Lowery told the CI recently.
Today, though CMC financial aid packages are based on demonstrated need, many families choose to borrow additional funds from other sources. Under the new plan, they will still be able to do so.
The more generous financial aid policy will help CMC attract applicants in an increasingly competitive academic marketplace. While the wealthiest liberal arts colleges have started to change their aid policies to make college more affordable to students, research institutions such as Harvard and Stanford, with endowments in the tens of billions, have even more resources to cut tuition. For example, Harvard recently moved to cut costs of enrollment by up to 50% for students from middle-income families.
Still, according to administrators at both schools, CMC and Pomona already meet all demonstrated need of their applicants. Both also have need-blind admissions policies.
An announcement of the new no-loans policy is scheduled for Monday, March 17, 2008 and will coincide with the kickoff of the school's landmark capital campaign.
Michael Wilner is a freshman at CMC.
Charles Johnson contributed to this report.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Sidney
Sidney
posted 3/17/08 @ 11:14 PM PST
I would like to point out that, as usual, there is a catch, or so the Financial Aid office informed me when I called asking about the status of my loan. (Continued…)
Eric
posted 3/18/08 @ 8:10 AM PST
From the article: "Today, though CMC financial aid packages are based on demonstrated need, many families choose to borrow additional funds from other sources. (Continued…)
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