On Monday, Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university in New Hampshire, said it would no longer be offering loans as part of its financial aid packages for undergrad students but instead replacing them with more grants.
The policy will take effect on June 23.
“Thanks to this extraordinary investment by our community, students can prepare for lives of impact with fewer constraints,” Dartmouth College President Philip Hanlon said.
“Eliminating loans from financial aid packages will allow Dartmouth undergraduates to seek their purpose and passion in the broadest possible range of career possibilities,” he continued.
Dartmouth has had a policy that did not require loans for students whose household income is less than $125,000. However, under this new program, the school will now extend to students whose household income exceeds $125,000 and receive need-based financial aid.
Dartmouth estimates the move will eliminate as much as $5,500 in student debt per year for each student.
The new program is underwritten by $80 million raised via 65 donors, Dartmouth said.
“Dartmouth already offers generous assistance to students from low-income backgrounds, and this move to a universal no-loan policy will help middle-income families who often have to stretch their budgets to meet the cost of higher education,” Director of Financial Aid Dino Koff said in a statement.
According to its website, the new program at Dartmouth is called The Call to Lead campaign, which “is a bold invitation to Dartmouth’s global community to engage with the great issues of this century and the next.”
Under the program, the school will also offer need-blind admissions to international students and increase the household income limit for full academic scholarships to $125,000.
Need-blind admissions are decisions that don’t consider an applicant’s financial circumstances, which the school believes will expand enrollment.
Dartmouth joins Ivy League counterparts Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University in embracing no-loan policies, The Dartmouth newspaper reported.