Although rare, more private colleges are joining the club of offering sufficient grants and work options to help students avoid or minimize student loan debt. Princeton started the trend more than 20 years ago. (Good luck getting accepted).
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, (12/9/19), Cheryl Winokur Munk explains.
1. "No loans" doesn't mean no out of pocket costs. Once the college determines a student's financial aid needs, they expect a contribution from parents and the student. So plan on working summers in high school to save some money for college.
Example: Cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, other costs) = $65,000. Depending on the family circumstances, they may be expected to contribute $25,000/year. The remaining $40k might be offered as grants and student employment.
Expected family contribution: https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/article/what-is-efc
2. Few schools offer "no loan" options and they tend to be selective.
While about 6 dozen institutions offer the program, that's a tiny segment of higher education. They are the highly selective, competitive institutions.
Examples: Amherst,
Bowdoin, Brown, Colby, College of Ozarks, Columbia, Davidson, Harvard,
Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Swarthmore, U of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt,
Washington & Lee, and Yale.
However, that means that "smart students from poorer families could end up paying less to go to a top private university with a no-loan policy than to a state school with a lower sticker price."
3. No-Loan policies vary
Every institution has it's own policies so check the fine print.
4. Still... you may still graduate with loans.
Some students may choose to take out loans to cover their expected student contribution rather than working as much as might otherwise be required.
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