Williams College to eliminate loans

Williams College has announced that they will be eliminating all loans from financial aid packages for all students. Williams has limited loans to its students in the past but the elimination of loans is great news. Davidson College and Amherst College announced earlier in the year that they were also eliminating loans from financial aid packages. Top private colleges like these are able to use their large endowments to do things like eliminating loans.

This action reinforces what I have often said before about financial aid. It pays to understand how college financial aid works and in particular how it works at particular colleges. If you are interested in a college like one of those that has eliminated loans you would be able to come out of college with no loans. In contrast, other schools of the same caliber, still have significant loan components to their financial aid packages. By offering a great education with no loans these colleges are presenting as great options not just for the low income students who might not otherwise consider them but also for the middle class students who would otherwise have to go significantly into debt to pay for their education.