An aerial view of The Oval, on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Terry Gilliam / AP
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Terry Gilliam / AP
An aerial view of The Oval, on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Terry Gilliam / AP
Ohio State University has launched an ambitious 10-year plan raised $800 million to eliminate all loans from undergraduate financial aid packages.
“It’s not free college, it’s not free tuition, but can we take one of the biggest universities in the country and develop a pathway for it,” said Kristina Johnson, president of Ohio state. our students so they can graduate debt-free?”
The school has more than 8,000 students who graduate poorly a year, said about half of those students graduate with debt. On average, college graduates owe about $27,000, an amount in line with the national average for students completing a bachelor’s degree.
“We surveyed our students and what they tell us is that with an average of $27,000 in debt, they’re making choices they wouldn’t otherwise make. They’re not going. graduate school, serve the community, buy a home,” Johnson said. “We want people to follow their passions, what they really care about, because we know when they do, they’ll be at their most successful, satisfied, happy and fulfilled.”
Not the first, but probably the biggest
The debt relief plan will cost Ohio State’ about $110 million a year, made available to students through scholarships, work opportunities and paid internships. Philanthropy will be the largest component of the initiative, but Johnson said the university is also working with state lawmakers to increase student support.
Ohio State’s move follows efforts in recent years by other colleges, but mostly at smaller, more selective schools, like Amherst College in Massachusetts, and among Ivy League. Ohio State is one of the largest universities in the country, with more than 40,000 university students.
While there are more sixty colleges offers low-income families a path to a college debt-free experience, much less has made it a policy for all students, regardless of income. In 2018, Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, received a $1.8 billion gift from alumnus Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, to replace loans with college scholarship funding.
The Ohio State initiative appears to be the largest attempt by a state university to do this. “The question is: can it be done at scale?” Johnson said. “That’s something I’m super excited about. We’re going to do it on a massive scale.”
The flagship campus, based in Columbus, also draws students from regional Ohio campuses across the state, an expansion that promises to affect a much larger student population.
The plan will start with a test program for 125 freshman admission next fall, expanding to include all undergraduates over the next decade.
