Scholarship will be offered in lieu of student loans in undergraduate financial aid packages at the Brown University beginning from the school term next year. The announcement was made following the $30 million fundraising effort carried out in September, and there are plans to raise another $90 million to keep up with the scholarship offers.
The initiative is part of the university’s objective to raise $500 million for undergraduate financial aid overall. Christina Paxson, President at Brown University shared that this initiative “amplifies our commitment to bringing the best and brightest students to Brown regardless of their socioeconomic background.” The adjustment not only helps relieve financial burden on students and their families of low to middle socioeconomic status; it is also a strategy for prime universities to remain competitive amidst the rising costs of universities’ tuition fees.
Further, even though Ivy League schools like Yale and Princeton universities have implemented the no-loans policies, many other leading tertiary institutions have capped the income limit to their financial aid packages. This meant that poorer families are getting better deals than those of middle income groups. Therefore, at the Brown University, it specifically wants to rectify the “challenges faced by families with moderate incomes, who often do not qualify for the generous financial aid offered to low-income families by Brown and some other universities, yet also do not have the full resources to cover the cost of attending college.” This is an initiative that serves as an encouragement for other institutions to make the necessary advancements as well.
Source: We Forum