Penn may appear to have joined the ranks of other elite schools trying to attract low-income students with its new financial aid policy.
But the initiative is actually unique to Penn, eliminating different financial burdens for low-income students than the University's peer institutions.
University officials announced Thursday that they will eliminate college loans to students whose families earn $50,000 or less annually and replace them with grant money, which does not need to be repaid.
The policy will affect about 400 students, officials said, including incoming freshmen.
Harvard and Yale universities have taken a different path, paying complete tuition for students whose families earn under a certain amount. But while these students' families aren't expected to contribute any money toward tuition, students' aid packages may still include loans that students must pay off.
Penn's new financial-aid policy, meanwhile, eliminates loans for such students but doesn't necessarily do away with contributions from students and their families. Students could get the necessary money through summer and work-study jobs, Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli said.
Carnaroli wouldn't put a ceiling on the amount families covered under the policy might have to pay, but he said each case would be considered individually.
And because Penn's package is so different from its Ivy League counterparts', officials at other universities aren't worried about having to compete with Penn.
Since the two policies "are not doing the same thing ... I don't think the particular move that Penn made is going to force us to do anything immediately," said Caesar Storlazzi, Yale's director of financial aid.
Storlazzi added that he anticipates having to answer many questions from concerned parents in order to explain the differences between the two schools' policies.
"The headline [of Penn's policy] makes it appear like Penn is one-upping us," Storlazzi said. But because the costs of expected parental contributions at Penn and student loans at Yale may not differ significantly, in the end "the amount of scholarship [dollars] may be exactly the same."
And while Penn's decision comes on the heels of Stanford University's recent financial-aid policy change -- next year, Stanford families earning up to $45,000 a year won't have to make a parental contribution to tuition -- officials from both schools say that the changes in policy are unrelated.
Bonnie Gibson, Penn's vice president for budget and management analysis, said the time overlap shows that "many top universities in the country are recognizing that they need to do more to make sure that they are open to students of all income levels."
She also said that Penn's policy was in the works long before Stanford announced its own.
Karen Cooper, director of financial aid at Stanford, echoed Gibson, saying that Stanford "did what is right for Stanford ... [and] will not be revising its policy based on Penn's announcement."
Although the policy won't go into effect until the next academic year, qualified students are already applauding the University's efforts.
College sophomore Daniel Singer, who said he is likely to be eligible for the new package, said that he is "very excited" about the change in policy.
"It's going to save me a whole lot of money and a lot of financial hardship in the future," he said.
