wesleyan went public with their new no-loans financial aid policy today.
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This is indeed good news. From the article:
Having already eliminated loans for highly aided students, this should help middle-income families eligible for financial aid find Wesleyan more affordable. “We are improving the University’s financial aid offerings to be able to build and maintain a dynamically diverse community, including socioeconomic diversity,” President Michael S. Roth ’78 said.
“When students complete Wesleyan degrees, their career and life choices should be guided by their passions and talents, and not by the necessity of paying off loans,” Gonzalez said.
IOW, no one should have to be a Wall Street analyst unless they really, really want to.
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In today’s clarification, this new policy applies only to the institutional loans for non-citizens.
The Breakdown
What’s the Policy Change?
“President Michael Roth ‘78 announced that loans will no longer be a part of student financial aid packages beginning with the Fall 2024semester.”
Who stands to benefit?
“The University only provided institutional loans to DACA ( Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), undocumented, and International students in the past…. The new policy ends these institutional loans and renders [those] students eligible for University grants. The University believes the new policy will mitigate costs for middle- income families who receive financial aid packages but are not eligible for institutional need-based grants.”
What stays the same?
“The new no-loan policy will not affect…Federal Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) issued to U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens. Private loan policies will also remain unchanged.”
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With all due respect, those quotes are not from the college, but from a badly written and misleading article in the student newspaper. They are not “clarifications”.
The article conflates Federal Direct Subsidized Student Loans (which are need-based) with Federal Direct Unsubsidized Student Loans (which are not need-based and are not typically considered part of any college’s FA package. The same is obviously true for Parent Plus Loans.)
The College’s official website is unequivocal:
Continuing our efforts to improve the affordability and accessibility of higher education, starting in the fall of 2024 Wesleyan will no longer include loans as part of our financial aid packages.
Types of Aid, Admission & Aid - Wesleyan University
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Agreed. The Argus article is a mess, and completely misconstrues the situation. NB: Wes did in fact include unsubsidized student loans as part of aid packages, but those will no longer be considered. For anyone receiving aid, Wes is unequivocally a no-loan school, except for exceptional expenses for which one chooses to borrow.
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That actually makes sense. I suspect that they are middle-class families taking out unsubsidized Federal Direct (otherwise known as “Stafford”) Loans.
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So, am I safe to assume that this step is not largely performative?
Yes, you have to imagine for what families would an extra $5,500 in grant money help sweeten the deal? Probably families deciding between Wesleyan and their state flagship where the EFCs are within striking distance of each other but the latter doesn’t require taking out a loan. This will help seal it for a lot of middle-class families, IMO.
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also, with the unsubsidized fed direct loans you begin enjoying interest right away, so that’s nice.
for someone considering a school where the financial aid maxes out federal direct loans, both subsidized and unsubidized, before anything other awards, a school with a no-loans policy would be quite a different animal.
they key is being able to get into a no-loans school.
of course, many schools, public and private, simply don’t cover full need even if they claim to because they are expecting the parents to take plus loans on top of the student’s loans to cover the gap in the award vs need.
and at some well-known, top-100 type schools, middle class financial aid awards consist solely of the max federal direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans and possibly work-study if the student is eligible.
a no-loans policy is a legit elite luxury.
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just so we’re all on the same page, my performative comment was 100% sarcasm.
I think Wes chose well making this move before restoring fully need-blind admissions.
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