With
all of the ongoing controversy over whether loans help or hurt students, Brown
University has managed to raise enough donations to float its financial aid
without asking students to borrow money for their education.
According
to University Business, Brown just
wrapped up a $30 million campaign to plump its scholarship funds. That money is
intended to take the place of loans in aid extended to students enrolling next
fall. Both returning undergraduates and first-years will benefit.
The
campaign represented the latest phase of The Brown Promise, a program launched
in 2003 to ensure a diverse body of applicants could actually afford to attend
the university, regardless of their personal financial situation. Brown
instituted a need-blind admission process, but did rely on loans to close the
gap for some students.
As an
article on Quartz notes, Brown isn’t the only institution to eliminate student
loans from its financial-aid package but many of the others “have income
cutoffs … meaning that poorer families get better deals than those with midrange
incomes.” Brown’s program reaches middle-income students, who might be able to
scrape the money together but at a considerable sacrifice.
Brown
is gearing up to raise another $90 million to fully endow the program to keep
it going.
