Memories Don't Burn

I got this email from Emory a few days ago, but I ignored it as junk mail asking me for money. Man, I wish I never opened it. I'm sick over. It's good for people that are going there now, but what about people like me? People whose parents "made too much money" for qualifying for financial aid. My mother made $50,000 when I went to Emory and had $100,000+ in medical bills because of Tara, and yet that was too much money. I have $50,000 in Emory student loans.

This is such a slap in the face to all of us that have ridiculous loans, I want to cry. Why not offer us some relief too?


Emory University announced today the establishment of Emory Advantage, a program of financial aid initiatives that will help lower- and middle-income students and families reduce debt incurred during the undergraduate years. The changes will begin in the 2007-08 academic year, marking one of the most aggressive programs devised by any national research university to enhance accessibility and affordability.


"These new programs will make it possible for any qualified student to obtain the advantages of an Emory education regardless of family background or circumstance," says Emory President James W. Wagner. "We are especially concerned to address the particular needs of many middle-income families, who ironically make too much money to qualify for many types of financial aid, but who find themselves unable to afford four years of college education without incurring substantial levels of debt."


Under Emory's new Loan Replacement Grant, students whose families' assessed income is $50,000 or less will graduate with no need-based loans from their four undergraduate years. Emory's new Loan Cap Program will assist students from families with assessed income between $50,001- $100,000 by capping their total need-based loan amount over four years at $15,000.


"We believe that extending loan caps to families making up to $100,000 is rare, if not unique, among our peers," says Provost Earl Lewis. "Most other loan replacement or loan cap programs are aimed primarily at low-income students."


"We are committed to providing access to an Emory education for all students," says Wagner. "An important goal is to foster further excellence of our academic community with the inclusion of highly talented students who would not have felt able to seriously consider applying to Emory in the past."


The new Loan Replacement Grant will be available to students in all four of Emory's undergraduate divisions – the two-year Oxford College, the four-year Emory College, the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and Goizueta Business School. The Loan Cap Program will be available to students beginning enrollment in 2007.


In another initiative announced today, Emory is rolling out new Liberal Arts Scholarships for semi-finalists applying for Emory's long-time Emory Scholars Program, recognizing outstanding academic achievement, talent, leadership and community service among high school students. The Emory Scholars program began in 1979 as a result of the $103 million gift from the Woodruff Foundation; each year the university awards some 70 scholarships to outstanding entering freshmen, including Woodruff Scholarships.


Emory also will enhance its Dean's Achievement Scholarships, rewarding academic achievement, leadership and community service among rising Emory sophomores, juniors and seniors who did not receive a merit scholarship coming from high school. "The opportunity to receive merit-based awards as a function of college performance is rare," says Robert Paul, dean of Emory College.


"We greatly value rewarding students for their ongoing excellent work in Emory College," says Thomas D. Lancaster, senior associate dean for undergraduate education and administrator of the program. The Dean's Achievement Scholars will be selected after the spring semester by a comprehensive selection committee comprised of faculty from across the university and alumni, says Lancaster. Those selected will become part of the Emory Scholars Program.


Once fully implemented, the University’s investment in these initiatives will be about $7 million per year (in today's dollars). The university's Strategic Plan funds will support the new programs for the first five years. They will be sustained by reallocating existing endowment streams of approximately $150 million and by raising at least an additional $75 million in endowment by the end of those five years, says President Wagner.