Dartmouth is stripping student loans from its financial aid packages to allow students to 'prepare for lives of impact with fewer constraints'

• Federal student loans will no longer be included in the financial aid packages.

• Grants and scholarships that don't need to be paid back will be expanded.

• More and more schools are removing loans to decrease debt burdens after graduation.

The student debt burden that accompanies a higher education is being removed by a growing number of schools.

The private New Hampshire college announced on Monday that it would be eliminating federal and institutional student loans from its financial aid package. The shift was made possible by more than 80 million dollars in gifts to the school's endowment from 65 families.

Students can prepare for lives of impact with fewer constraints thanks to this extraordinary investment by our community. The elimination of loans from financial aid packages will allow students to find their purpose and passion in the broadest range of career possibilities.

Prior to this announcement, students from families with incomes under $125,000 had the option of not having to take federal student loans. The school estimates that the benefit will decrease debt burdens for hundreds of middle-income students by an average of $22,000 over four years, and that each student will have to borrow an average of $5,500 per year.

"Dartmouth already offers generous assistance to students from low-income background, and this move to a universal no-loan policy will help middle-income families who often have to stretch their budgets to meet the cost of higher education," the Director of Financial Aid said in a statement.

Over 40 million Americans are saddled with student debt, and schools in the US are trying to ease it. In 2001, the first university in the US to replace loans with grants that don't need to be repaid was Princeton. Smith College in Massachusetts and Colgate University in New York adopted the same policy.

As President Joe Biden works on ways to reduce the student debt burden, this comes as well. While the White House has not publicly confirmed any plans, Biden told reporters over the weekend that a decision on relief is near, and a further extension of the over two-year pause on loan payments is also possible.

Business Insider has an article on it.