Colleges taking another look at value of merit-based aid

[standrews]

<p>My wife got this email from Davidson. She had loans from Davidson to pay off long after she graduated. This is a welcomed development for us as our HS Jr son has Davidson on his list. The different institution can and should work out aid options as they see fit to meet their particular goals. This another example.</p>

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Dear xxx,
Throughout Davidson?s history, alumni have demonstrated their conviction that the educational experience they cherish should be within the grasp of any qualified student. This has never been more evident than in the last twenty years, when nearly 400 new scholarship funds were created, most of them by alumni. Nevertheless, as costs have increased, a major barrier for students and their families continues to be the burden of debt they must incur to cover college expenses.</p>

<p>I am writing to tell you that students of Davidson College will have their demonstrated financial need funded entirely by grants and student employment, beginning in August 2007. The Trustees of the college unanimously adopted this new financial aid policy, which eliminates loans from all financial aid packages. Davidson will maintain its strict commitment to practicing need-blind admission.</p>

<p>The Trustees believe that this action is the necessary response to the financial situation facing many applicants and their families, and that it is consistent with a core value of the college?that a Davidson education should be affordable to all students, regardless of means. The college family?s longtime support of financial aid provided a platform of both leadership for and confidence in this historic change in policy.</p>

<p>In order to allow students to graduate from Davidson debt-free, the Trustees identified and committed the immediate funding needed to initiate this policy, while formally committing to a strategy for raising new monies to endow the program. Tuition increases will continue to be reserved solely for the improvement of the educational and residential experience of Davidson students.</p>

<p>In taking this stand for affordability, the Trustees considered the passion for accessibility that alumni have made clear. They extend their hand today in partnership with the entire college family to share the responsibility for opening Davidson?s doors to students who formerly would not have even dared to apply because of costs.</p>

<p>This is an historic moment for Davidson. We are the first national liberal arts college in the nation to take such an action, but it is our hope that others will follow a similar course, making affordable to any qualified student the kind of educational experience that changes lives.</p>

<p>Sincerely, Bobby Vagt

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