Administrators announced on Jan. 11 the creation of Emory Advantage, a financial aid program designed to make an Emory education more affordable for lower- and middle-income undergraduate students.

Beginning next academic year, incoming and continuing students with a household income of $50,000 or less will receive grants to cover nearly the entire cost of attendance under the Loan Replacement Grant initiative. For incoming students with incomes between $50,001 and $100,000, the Loan Cap Program will cap need-based loans at $15,000 for all four years of study, above which threshold Emory will provide grants to meet demonstrated need...

In recent years, several Ivy League and elite public universities have announced similar initiatives to aid the neediest students. But administrators said Emory Advantage goes farther.

"What's unique about Emory's program is the ability to be more welcoming to the middle class," University President James W. Wagner said. "Several schools have done tuition forgiveness at the lowest quartile [of income distribution]. Our judgment was that we could do better if we put some more resources into middle-income assistance."

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Earl Lewis said the Loan Cap Program puts Emory "ahead of the game" and that he knows of no other institution that limits debt for students with incomes as high as $100,000, though Harvard University has a similar program for students with incomes between $60,000 and $80,000.

Stephen Burd, a senior research fellow for the New America Foundation who covered financial aid for a decade at The Chronicle of Higher Education, said Emory Advantage "seems like a good policy."

"What we're seeing across the country is that students are taking on huge amounts of debt," Burd said. "Anything that can help students avoid that kind of debt has to be seen as a good thing..."

For the complete article, please visit The Emory Wheel website.