The University of Maryland in College Park said Monday that it is enhancing efforts to attract low-income students by launching a new need-based financial aid program called the Terrapin Commitment.
The program starts in January and will ensure that tuition and fees are covered for in-state full-time students who are eligible forand have unmet financial need after scholarships, grants and family contributions.The program will provide up to $20 million in aid annually to students from the state of Maryland. It is the largest single-year investment in need-based scholarships at the university, U-Md. officials said.
“We don’t want any of our students who are from certain socioeconomic backgrounds who are Pell-eligible to really carry any loans or any debt going forward,” U-Md. President Darryll J. Pines said in an interview. He said he hopes the program will enable students to “come to school, have minimal work-study if possible, and simply just be able to focus on their education, and do well and take the next step for their families.”
The U-Md. aid program joins similar efforts at other universities to help attract more students from diverse backgrounds. “Education is sort of the great equalizer that gives people opportunity,” Pines said.Princeton University, for example, currently covers tuition, room and board for students from families making less than $65,000 and announced last month that it will