UVA asking students to take on loans - Is this the future?

<p>"Now the school will be reducing grants and asking students to take out as much as $28,000 in loans over four years to replace them. (The cap will be $14,000 for in-state students.)"</p>

<p>"Virginia is doing this because the costs of the AccessUVa have grown from $11.5 million in the 2004-05 school year to $40 million this year, the Post says. It got so much bigger because of two factors: UVa enrolls more students—and it’s gotten more expensive. A new in-state undergrad will pay more than $26,000 for the 2013-14 school year; an out-of-state student will pay around $54,000. "</p>

<p>UVA</a> Tells Low-Income Students to Borrow for School - Businessweek</p>

<p>It is already the policy at every college except a few of the very richest ones.</p>

<p>And even at the very richest ones, a student contribution is requested. If a student can’t come up with that ~$4K amount where do you think they go to get the money? With a zero FAFSA EFC, they can take out subsidized Direct loans and go into the unsub loans as well.</p>

<p>UVA’s NPC indicated (before the change) that the expected student contribution = minimum net price = $0. This is highly unusual; not even the usual super-generous-with-financial-aid schools like Harvard and Stanford do that (e.g. Harvard’s expected student contribution = minimum net price = $4,600 per year).</p>

<p>It looks like UVA is changing the expected student contribution from $0 to $7,000 per year. This appears to be in the middle range between the typical low end of about $4,000 to the typical high end of about $10,000. $7,000 would likely require a full direct loan with some work earnings, or more work earnings with a smaller direct loan.</p>