Washington University in St. Louis new financial aid policy

Washington University in St. Louis has announced that they are joining other highly selective colleges in limiting loans for certain families. Specifically, the college will be eliminating all loans for families making less than $60,000 a year and replacing them with grants. This is good news from Wash U since their focus in the past has seemed to be on using merit money to buy high quality students rather than seeking an economically diverse student population. The number of students receiving Pell grants, those reserved for the lowest income students, has consistently been very low, even compared to their competitors. This despite having an endowment of over $5.5 billion.

I am a proud alumni of Wash U and I hope that they continue to use their substantial endowment to enhance their financial aid to gain a more diverse student population.