As the gap between family income and affordability of a college education widens, students from low-income families are finding the promise of higher education is farther out of reach.

But Oberlin College is trying to help.

The college has introduced a new program that will eliminate the need for loans for students who are among the neediest financially and who are eligible for federally funded Pell Grants.

To be known as the Oberlin Access Initiative, the effort is part of a broader goal of the college and a growing trend nationally to afford opportunties for families who “are among the most disadvantaged in American society,” said Debra Chermonte, Oberlin College’s Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.

The program was jump-started by a $1.2 million pledge from Clyde McGregor, a 1974 Oberlin College graduate and college trustee.

The money will be used to offset what the students still owe after their Pell Grant. In essence, their college bill will be erased.

“On average, our graduate level of indebtedness is $16,900, which will be forgiven under this plan,” Chermonte said. “It becomes a grant that doesn’t have to be repaid.”

The college has 350-plus Pell-eligible students, including about 50 who are scheduled to begin classes in the fall. The Pell aid, which was born as part of the federal Higher Education Act in 1965, generally goes to families who household income averages less than $35,000 a year.
Students to be helped by the new plan are being dubbed “McGregor Scholars.”

Oberlin College will spend $41.3 million for financial aid to about 70 percent of its enrollment. Tuition and fees for the 2008-09 school year at Oberlin are $38,280.

Chermonte said the college assists a larger percentage of its students than do other leading liberal arts colleges and universities, with the average aid package totaling $25,000 a year. Roughly 80 percent of that amount is derived from scholarship grants.

The Oberlin Access program places the college among 40-some U.S. colleges and universities now offering similar financial aid packages. Oberlin College is only the second major school besides Northwestern University to base the new aid program on eligibility for Pell grants instead of income, said Chermonte.
Oberlin is fortunate in being able to draw on substantial endowments and private gifts to help fund such financial aid programs.

“We are in a somewhat rare or privileged position to be able to do something like this,” Chermonte said.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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