Williams College Eliminates Loan Offerings

Williams College Eliminates All Loan Options From Their Financial Aid

Willams College, a small yet prestigious liberal arts college in Massachusetts, has just eliminated all loan and work-study programs from its financial aid offerings. With a small population of just over 2,000 students, Williams's current tuition sits at just over $60,000 per year. However, the college’s average cost after aid sits at roughly $19,000 thanks in large part to a historically generous financial aid department. With a reported admissions rate of just 15%, Williams college seems to truly commit to the idea that no student should be barred from attending Williams simply due to financial constraints if they earned a spot during the admissions process. Purposeful budgeting has certainly helped Williams offer their financial aid packages, but generous donors are a huge part of that opportunity as well. It’s fantastic that the college prioritizes donations to help the next generation of students thrive, but not every college or university has that kind of cushion when it comes to funds. I think this development has shined a light on two different points in the college admissions world. First, this is possibly one of the first drastic measures we’ve seen in response to a rising student debt crisis. While many schools are looking for ways to reduce the cost incurred by students, financial aid can inherently surprise families if they don’t understand the full scope of how a loan is going to affect them. Rarely do families have loan options explained to them which can be a real problem when they’re asked to choose between a standard subsidized loan or an unsubsidized Parent PLUS loan. While both options may look similar on an aid sheet, the final loan amount will be drastically different.By eliminating the loan aspect of the aid package, families will have a much better grasp of what their total cost of college will be on an annual basis, creating a much higher level of understanding and control of the situation. Second, I think Williams has done a great job, whether purposeful or not, of shining a light on the fact that the sticker price of private colleges should not scare away applicants. When comparing public, in-state institutions to private colleges, the initial price disparity can frequently scare off potential applicants. What many families don’t consider, though, are the generous aid packages that private schools are able to offer in order to compete with public tuition. I won’t say that private colleges are always going to be able to beat public pricing, but I don’t think anyone would be “wasting” an application fee on a private college they’re interested in, because you never know what kind of aid package is available to you at a higher ticket private institution.