Take Heart

Help is on the way to beleaguered middle- and upper-income families with one or — horribile dictu — more than one child in college.

While President Carter and the Congress spar over the form of tuition relief for families heretofore thought able to carry the burden themselves — tax credit or expanded eligibility for government scholarships or loans — the College has announced a new loan program for parents with gross incomes of up to $75,000.

Under the plan, to be available only to parents of freshmen starting with the Class of 1982, parents with good credit ratings will be able to borrow up to the full cost of tuition, fees, room and board ($6,690 this year), minus scholarships and other aid. For loans issued to parents of next year's freshmen, the interest will be nine per cent, a rate guaranteed for the student's undergraduate years at Dartmouth. The money will be repayable normally in six and one half years, but not more than eight.

By way of contrast, parents might expect to pay 12 to 14 per cent interest on equivalent unsecured notes at local banks, or as low as nine per cent if they could put up satisfactory collateral. (A seven-percent interest rate remains available to students through commercial banks, under government-insured loan programs.)

Under President Carter's proposal, students from families with gross incomes up to $25,000 would qualify for government scholarship programs, while those whose parents make up to $40,000 would be eligible for subsidized loans. Congress meanwhile apparently prefers a system of tax credits. There are 50 co-sponsors for a Senate bill providing a tax credit of $500 per student for families with children in college or private elementary and secondary schools.