Guide to Education Grants

Another Student Loan Resource:
Though the money will not be donated until after his death, “A $400-million gift pledged to Columbia University on Wednesday by John W. Kluge, a media tycoon, will eventually allow the institution to expand the number of needy undergraduates on full scholarships and increase scholarship levels for graduate students,” according to an April 12, 2007 article by Goldie Blumenstyk, titled “$400-Million Gift to Columbia U. Will Go to Student Aid,” that appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
 
The donation has been earmarked for a specific purpose, which “will eventually allow the institution to expand the number of needy undergraduates on full scholarships and increase scholarship levels for graduate students,” the article said.
 
According to the article, “Observers said the pledge was significant both for its size and its purpose. ‘We’re into gigantism now in philanthropy,’ said Stanley N. Katz, a longtime observer of giving trends and director of the Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
 
“Although Columbia is wealthy in its own right, the donation is ‘a big deal because it’s focused on the support of undergraduate financial aid,’ Mr. Katz said.”
 
Significance of Gift
 
According to the article, “Columbia said it now enrolled a greater proportion of needy students than any other Ivy League college, but in meeting their financial needs, it must dig into its endowment, which is smaller than that of Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford Universities. Mr. Katz said the gift ‘presumably will catapult Columbia’ into a position where it can more easily afford to match the financial-aid offers of its competitors, in the Ivy League and elsewhere.”
 
Columbia University recently has taken on a rather ambitious ideal: that of ensuring that students from low-income families will be able to attend college without taking out student loans. The article gave the details:
 
“In kicking off its $4-billion fund-raising campaign, Columbia has already announced that, beginning this fall, all students at its two main undergraduate colleges with annual family incomes below $50,000 will receive aid packages that will allow them to attend without taking out loans.
 
“The gift from Mr. Kluge, which will not come to the university until after his death, will give the university resources to expand that effort by raising the income threshold for full-scholarship students and by offering higher levels of scholarship aid to graduate students.”
 
Lower Income College Affordability Plan?
 
This huge gift by Mr. Kluge donated with the intention of assisting undergraduate students, combined with Columbia’s initiative of eliminating student loans for lower income students suggests a rather interesting means of helping those who are from lower income families attend college. Is it naive to think that other schools could follow Columbia’s example in instituting similar programs? Granted, few colleges have endowments anywhere near that of Columbia. Yet, with a strategic plan and a targeted effort, conceivably funds could be raised that would go toward lower income students’ tuition bills. Perhaps, unlike Columbia, other schools would not be able to cover the total bill, but the money certainly would go a long way in making college more affordable for those who do not have the funds.
 
It is important to keep up to date on all the news regarding student loans and education.
 
Talk to the education financial advisors at NextStudent. They have all the information and advice you need on student loans. Check out www.nextstudent.com.
 
Be sure to tune in next Monday for my next blog on student loan issues in the news.
 
Student Loan Girl
 
 
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Student Loans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.