Vanderbilt Replacing Need-Based Student Loans With Grants, Scholarships

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:23:00 GMT

Undergraduates at Vanderbilt University who qualify for need-based student loans could see a significant drop in their student loan debt, from an average of $21,000 to as little as $5,000, as the university moves to eliminate these loans, replacing them instead with need-based scholarships and grants (“VU Will Slash Millions in Student Debt,” The Tennessean, Oct. 1, 2008).

Eligible seniors in Vanderbilt’s Class of 2009 will be the first to benefit from the school’s new financial aid program this spring. The school will waive these graduating seniors’ need–based student loans, which are generally used to pay for college expenses not covered by grants and scholarships, work-study awards, or family contributions.

Next fall, the program will be expanded to include all Vanderbilt undergraduates who have demonstrated financial need.

Eliminating need-based student loans, which include federal Perkins Loans, subsidized federal Stafford student loans, and subsidized direct loans, will cost Vanderbilt an estimated $15 million a year.The debt-reduction initiative is intended to help undergraduate students afford the total cost of a Vanderbilt education, which is nearly $53,000 a year in tuition, fees, and room and board.

“This truly removes barriers for many, many students,” says Dean of Admissions Douglas Christiansen.

Vanderbilt, unlike other schools that have implemented similar loan-free financial aid programs, will offer need-based scholarships and grants to all undergraduates who have demonstrated financial need without imposing a specified cap on family income level. In determining a student’s demonstrated financial need, Vanderbilt will take a student’s individual family circumstances and their total educational costs into consideration.

Share this post: email this | del.icio.us | reddit

Student Loan Blog : student loan debt, federal Perkins loans

Vanderbilt Replacing Need-Based Student Loans With Grants, Scholarships