To Ease The Burden, A New Loan Program

Of immediate relevance to the financial plight the College shares with all other institutions of higher learning is an innovative loan program announced by 'resident Kemeny at the January 21 meeting of the Dartmouth Club of New York.

Sharp rises in tuition over the past decade (from 51675 in 1963 to $3270 for equivalent three terms this year) and higher costs in the offing have fought severe hardship for many students and their parents and have had particular impact on middle-income families who neither qualify for scholarship aid nor can easily afford the increased costs. To lighten the burden on both the student and his parents, the College has devised a two-pronged loan program.

Under the first phase, the College will expand vastly the funds available for student loans through the Federal Insured Student Loan program by borrowing from the private, government-sponsored Student Loan Marketing Association and relending them to the students at a relatively low rate of interest, with the federal government reimbursing the College for the difference in interest.

Under the second phase of the program, the College will set aside funds to help young alumni - under certain proscribed circumstances - repay the government loans. The federal government requires that student loans be repaid within ten years after the completion of education. Dartmouth's secondary loan program will allow young alumni with special need - jobs with low compensation in early years, prolonged illness, or professional unemployment - to stretch repayment over as much as 17 years.

Since the new loan program is of immediate concern to parents as well as alumni, a fuller explanation of the College's new loan plan was included in the recent Bulletin, which is distributed to parents and graduates of the associated schools as well as to the entire alumni body of the College.