Tufts pioneers a debt forgiveness program
Lilly Riber
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: News
A new loan repayment assistance program will offer financial support to Tufts graduates and alums looking to enter careers in nonprofit or government agencies.
Tufts will make history by becoming the first undergraduate institution to implement such an initiative.
According to Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service Dean Robert Hollister, the program falls in line with the Tufts' ideals and mission.
"Tufts has made a bold institutional commitment to preparing students in all fields for lifetimes of active citizenship," he said. "Student loan debt is a large and growing obstacle to students pursuing public service careers at Tufts and elsewhere."
Hollister said the initiative was driven by University President Lawrence Bacow and made possible by the $100 million microfinance fund that was donated in 2005 by Pierre Omidyar (LA '88) and his wife Pamela (LA '89).
The fund will provide for a budget of $500,000 that will be distributed to eligible applicants.
The program will be formally announced before Thanksgiving and the first round of applications will be due at the start of Sept. 2008, according to Hollister.
These applicants will hail from any of Tufts' 11 graduate and undergraduate schools. Hollister said that they could be either current seniors or past graduates.
Director of Financial Aid Patricia Reilly said that the initiative has involved a collaboration of the financial aid and student loan offices from all of Tufts' schools.
"At this point we're in the process of putting together the application - what info we'll need to gather and what the practice will be," she said.
Though the precise logistics of aid distribution have yet to be determined, Hollister said the assistance will in no way eliminate student debt.
"We don't expect to be able to cover the entirety of alumni's annual loan bills, but we want to provide meaningful assistance," he said.
As this is the first type of loan assistance program of its kind, exact planning is somewhat limited, Reilly said.
Tufts will make history by becoming the first undergraduate institution to implement such an initiative.
According to Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service Dean Robert Hollister, the program falls in line with the Tufts' ideals and mission.
"Tufts has made a bold institutional commitment to preparing students in all fields for lifetimes of active citizenship," he said. "Student loan debt is a large and growing obstacle to students pursuing public service careers at Tufts and elsewhere."
Hollister said the initiative was driven by University President Lawrence Bacow and made possible by the $100 million microfinance fund that was donated in 2005 by Pierre Omidyar (LA '88) and his wife Pamela (LA '89).
The fund will provide for a budget of $500,000 that will be distributed to eligible applicants.
The program will be formally announced before Thanksgiving and the first round of applications will be due at the start of Sept. 2008, according to Hollister.
These applicants will hail from any of Tufts' 11 graduate and undergraduate schools. Hollister said that they could be either current seniors or past graduates.
Director of Financial Aid Patricia Reilly said that the initiative has involved a collaboration of the financial aid and student loan offices from all of Tufts' schools.
"At this point we're in the process of putting together the application - what info we'll need to gather and what the practice will be," she said.
Though the precise logistics of aid distribution have yet to be determined, Hollister said the assistance will in no way eliminate student debt.
"We don't expect to be able to cover the entirety of alumni's annual loan bills, but we want to provide meaningful assistance," he said.
As this is the first type of loan assistance program of its kind, exact planning is somewhat limited, Reilly said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Sam Kounaves
posted 10/26/07 @ 9:21 AM EST
I appreciate the concern of our administration to help our students financially by "debt forgiveness", but I think this effort is misguided. Student loan debt is certainly a large and growing obstacle to students, but that is true in many fields. (Continued…)
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