<p>What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that people will no longer be in debt?</p>
<p>Not necessarily. The college determines what the total cost of attendance is, and then that's divided into broad catagories: the EFC (money paid by the parents from income and/or assets, and by the student from summer earnings or other assets); grant aid from various sources; and student loans and workstudy earnings.</p>
<p>No Loans means that whatever amount of that total package is determined to be student loans (federal, private, institutional, subsidized, unsubsidized) is replaced with grant money. So that very well might mean graduating without debt, however --</p>
<p>The amount of the Cost of Attendance might be lower than your actual costs, depending of other circumstances or unusual expenses you may have, in which case you might end up taking out a loan. Some students may take out a loan to help their parents meet their EFC, or buy a computer, or to replace the workstudy part of the package because they can't find enough work or can't spare the time from their studies or sports or whatever. There are any number of reasons you might choose to take out a loan. Colleges that are "no loans" are only saying that by their reckoning you should not HAVE TO take out loans under normal circumstances as determined by them, and assuming you graduate in four years.</p>
<p>If you live within their budgeted Cost of Attendance, and your parents can make their EFC (although they may well have to take out loans themselves to do that, which is not covered under the concept of No Loans financial aid programs -- they just mean student loans, not parents), and you can earn what they expect from work study and summer earnings then you shouldn't be forced to take out student loans to pay for your education at that school.</p>