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Posted 10/21/98
Dartmouth College has announced a financial aid initiative that will significantly increase the scholarship assistance provided to students. Among other measures, the college plans to substantially lower loan expectations, reduce or eliminate family assets from financial aid calculations, and allow students to use the full amount of any outside scholarship received to further reduce loan or job expectations.
In announcing the initiative, Dartmouth President James Wright said, "These changes will ensure that a Dartmouth education remains within the reach of our nation's most talented students, regardless of their financial circumstances."
Over the next four years the college plans to implement the following steps:
- Dartmouth will reduce loan expectations for students on a graduated basis according to family income. Dartmouth has had a long-standing policy that recognizes the burden loans place on low and middle income students and their families. In addition, undergraduate loans can have the effect of narrowing career options for all students. In recognition of these concerns, Dartmouth's policy will be significantly expanded to further reduce loan expectations on a graduated basis, according to family income.
- Students from families with incomes less than $30,000 will see their loans reduced by $3,525, to zero in the first year of enrollment.
- Students from families with incomes between $30,000 and $45,000 will see their loans reduced by $2,400.
- Students from families with incomes between $45,000 and $60,000 will see their loans reduced by $1,000.
In total, these loan reductions will affect approximately 54 percent of the financial aid recipients at Dartmouth and will add a total of $1.98 million to the scholarships awarded.
- Dartmouth will continue its case-by-case assessment of family assets in the needs analysis. For quite some time, Dartmouth has recognized that the needs analysis formula, commonly used by selective institutions to determine eligibility for financial aid, often results in unrealistic contributions for middle income families. Therefore, Dartmouth has been adjusting the formula, particularly as it affects assets and home equity, to make expected family contributions more realistic. For many families, this means that the home equity has either been eliminated or reduced or that the contribution from all assets has been decreased. This case-by-case approach will affect approximately 37 percent of financial aid recipients at Dartmouth and add $1.44 million to the college's scholarship awards.
- All Dartmouth undergraduate students, beginning in the fall of 1999, will be able to retain 100 percent of any outside scholarships they might receive. Many civic organizations and corporations provide merit scholarships to Dartmouth students, and students who win scholarships from sources external to Dartmouth will be able to keep these funds to reduce the loan and/or job portions of their financial aid packages. As a result, Dartmouth will increase the amount of its own funds devoted to scholarships by $1.3 million. Approximately one-third of the financial aid recipients at Dartmouth will benefit from this change in policy.
- Dartmouth will enable families to realize the full benefit of the $1,500 Hope Scholarship. Dartmouth is committed to enabling families to use this additional resource to further reduce loans.
- Dartmouth will increase the scholarship budget for first-year international students by 6 percent. The enrollment of international students has been an admissions priority at Dartmouth for many years. International students contribute to the diversity of the educational experience. Presently, Dartmouth commits $1.5 million each year to scholarships for international students. In the future, these funds will be increased by 6 percent annually.
"All of us at Dartmouth remain committed to providing students with the financial support necessary to enable their attendance," said Karl Furstenberg, Dartmouth's dean of admissions and financial aid. "One measure of this commitment has been the success of a recently completed capital campaign that raised $54.1 million additional dollars for financial aid endowments. The generosity of Dartmouth alumni and others enables us to enhance our aid programs so they accurately reflect the needs of families. We are proceeding with the multiple aims of offering financial aid awards that make a Dartmouth education affordable for students and their families, preserving our need-blind admissions program, and ensuring equitable treatment of all financial aid recipients at Dartmouth."
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