College Finance Corner: Caltech joins Harvard in replacing loans with scholarship gift aid

Caltech Helps Students Afford College

PASADENA, Calif.- The California Institute of Technology will eliminate loans for its neediest undergraduate students by replacing loans with additional gift aid, such as scholarships and grants. Beginning with undergraduates entering in the fall of 2008, most domestic students whose total family incomes are $60,000 per year or less will be offered a financial-aid package that substitutes scholarship gift aid for loans.

"We know that some families who have not had much experience with higher education or large loans are often reluctant to incur debt for their children's education. This factor, added to the sticker shock of the cost of a college education, can easily cause families to believe that such opportunities are out of their reach even when their children are admissible," says Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau.

For domestic applicants, the Institute offers need-blind admission to its undergraduate programs without any consideration of ability to pay. Caltech is also among the very few colleges or universities that make it financially possible for any U.S. student who is admitted to attend and graduate.

Caltech currently provides financial assistance to more than half of its 913 undergraduate students, meeting 100 percent of demonstrated financial need through a combination of gift aid and self-help--student employment and loan--assistance. The average scholarship/grant for students who entered in fall 2007 was $26,704. The average total financial-aid award, including loans, for this group was $28,580. This represents approximately 61 percent of the estimated cost of attendance for these students.

The average indebtedness at graduation for Caltech's undergraduate students already ranks among the lowest in the nation. Of the undergraduates who graduated during the 2006-07 school year, 43 percent had student loans; the average indebtedness for a student at the time of graduation was $6,268. Of those who graduated during the 2005-06 school year, 34 percent had student loans; the average indebtedness was $5,156. This compares with a national average of $19,146 for undergraduate students who graduated from four-year colleges in 2005-06, the last year for which data is available.

"This latest initiative is consistent with the Institute's ongoing commitment to keep a Caltech education accessible to domestic students regardless of their ability to pay. Caltech appreciates the generosity of its donors, whose funding makes the school's financial-aid initiatives possible," says Chameau.

### Contact: Jill Perry (626) 395-3226