College Student Loans Should End

Colleges should look to end the burden of student loans
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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Non-Ivy League universities should follow the lead of Penn and Princeton in awarding grants to middle-class students.

The Ivy League colleges and universities have produced some of the greatest minds in the world for hundreds of years. These prestigious institutions have set trends that have changed all of academia.

Now, as these schools seek to ensure middle-class students won't leave college saddled with crushing student-loan debt, we urge other universities to follow suit.

Monday, the University of Pennsylvania announced that, beginning in 2009, financially eligible students, those whose families earn less than $100,000 per year, will no longer be offered student loans. They'll be awarded grants to cover Penn's $46,000 annual cost for tuition, room and board. Students from families earning up to $150,000 would only be charged between $10,000 and $15,000, depending on their need.

Penn already gives full grants to students from poor families, as other universities do.

Earlier this month, Harvard University announced a similar move to do away with student loans. Princeton University became the first Ivy League school to ax loans in favor of grants in 2001. And Swarthmore College outside Philadelphia recently announced its plans to nix student loans, as well. We hope other non-Ivy League schools join the bandwagon.

College is supposed to be a financial win for kids, giving them a chance at a better job and financial stability in life. But tuition prices and interest rates on student loans have climbed to the point where many families are making tough choices about what college to send their children to and graduates are finding themselves hampered by debt through their 20s and early 30s. That makes it hard for them to move into adulthood by doing things such as buying a house or saving for their own children's college funds.