Swarthmore Swaps Loans for Scholarships

Swarthmore College will eliminate student loans in its financial aid packages and replace them with scholarships beginning next academic year.

The new policy will affect an estimated 740 new and continuing students, roughly half of Swarthmore's total enrollment, school officials said in an statement Wednesday.

"Loan-free awards will give our students the freedom to explore all career choices because they won't need to worry about how they will repay their college loans," said Jim Bock, dean of admissions and financial aid.

Swarthmore, an elite liberal arts college outside Philadelphia, costs approximately $45,700 per year for tuition and room and board.

The announcement comes on the heels of Monday's news from Harvard University that it would replace all loans with grants, and spend up to $22 million more annually on aid _ mostly targeting middle- and upper-middle class students.

Several top-tier schools, including the University of Pennsylvania, already have policies allowing students from the lowest income brackets to attend college essentially for free.

The moves come as schools try to quiet criticism of the rising cost of higher education, and in an effort to diversify their student populations based on economic background.

Swarthmore's lowest-income students have been offered loan-free financial aid awards for the past two years. The new policy extends loan-free aid to all students with financial need.

It will cost the college approximately $1.7 million additionally each year, school officials said.