CORRECTION APPENDED

As the stream of colleges that have cut or eliminated loans as a source of funding continues, the question follows: will Harvard follow suit?

Williams College announced last Thursday that it will drop all loans from financial aid packages and meet need solely with grants, joining a group that includes Princeton University, Davidson College, and Amherst College, according to insidehighered.com.

One day later, Wesleyan College announced that it will curb its issuance of loans, moving all students of families with incomes below $40,000 to grant-only packages and reducing the size of loans in aid packages to families with incomes higher than that number. [SEE CORRECTION BELOW]

Currently, Harvard College is not amongst the group that has done away with loans. The College meets demonstrated financial need through a combination of loans, work-study, and grants. According to the Financial Aid Web site, about half of Harvard undergraduates graduate with some loan debt, typically between $5,000 and $10,000.

Sally C. Donahue, director of financial aid at the College, wrote in an e-mail that “The median graduating debt for the Class of 2007 was $6,750, with roughly 750 students having borrowed at some point during their Harvard career.” In contrast, said Donahue, 935 members of the Class of 1997 borrowed, graduating with a median debt of $16,500.

She also said that since students can meet the expected personal contribution portions of their aid packages through work, outside scholarships, or loans, many are able to graduate debt-free.

Morton O. Schapiro, the president of Williams College, said in an e-mailed statement, “We have been moving in this direction for a number of years—first we reduced loan expectations for all financial aid students, then we stopped packaging loans entirely for students from families with the lowest incomes. This was the logical next step.”

Schapiro also pointed to the academic freedom provided by the reduction of financial burdens on students.

“Some recent research suggests that even modest loans affect career choice. It will be nice not to worry about that anymore,” he said.

“If you want to go to med school or law school after college, you have to work for a few years to pay off your loans before getting into even more debt,” said Laura A. Huppert ’10, a Quincy House resident currently considering medical school. “It puts you in a bad situation.”

Students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences face a different financial aid reality. Patrick Hamm, information coordinator for the Graduate School Council said that for PhD candidates, “Anybody who is able to finish in five years is typically not going to face any debt issues,” he said. “Public universities do not have deals like this.”

However, he said, students unable to complete their doctorates within five years will potentially be forced to take out loans. Hamm said that the council is in the process of developing a survey, to be sent out Christmas, assessing how much this affects students.

Those seeking a master’s degree are generally more reliant on loans to pay for their educations, said to Sara S. Rhodin, an at-large representative of the council. “It depends on the program,” she said, “I think that it does affect master’s students definitely more than the Ph.D. students.”

CORRECTION: The Nov. 6 news article "College Cut Loans As Tuition Source" incorrectly stated that Wesleyan College expanded its financial aid package for families with incomes below $40,000. In fact, that change was made by Wesleyan University.