The Vision | Lies my institution told me

Penn's 'no-loan policy' embodies the University's hesitance to maintain policies that allow low-income students to thrive

By The Vision 02/24/15 12:57am

In the Penn Archives, there exists an article by Marvin P. Lyon Jr. entitled, “Blacks at Penn, Then and Now.” It describes the stories and experiences of students of color at the University throughout its history. One particularly powerful quote taken from Arthur Huff Fauset, a Penn student in the 1920s, states, “White Penn did not demonstrate ill will (toward black students) ... but rather determined ambivalence.” Lyon continues by saying, “As indicated by these comments, Penn’s environment was not ideal for the success of its black students.” When examining these stories, you can see the parallels between the challenges students faced in the past at this institution, and the challenges that exist today. This is no more evident than when we examine Penn’s stance on its supposed “no-loan policy,” and the indifference the institution shows towards low-income students who have had no choice but to take out loans while at Penn. The existence of these students is proof positive that this institutional policy is a lie — an abominable form of deceit that our institution has been complicit in for far too long.

On the first of February, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported on the issue of Penn’s supposed “no-loan policy” and the questions that arose from Penn’s low ranking amongst the Ivies in the College Scorecard released by the White House. University Director of Financial Aid Joel Carstens brushed off the ranking, stating, “I think what we see most often, as far as the average student, is that they’re borrowing because it’s available to them, not because it’s required.”

Carstens’ misguided perception of students who have taken out loans is an insult to the vast majority of students and families who have taken out loans to afford Penn. When I graduate at the end of this semester, I will have a total of $48,500 owed in both federal and private loans. My parents did not take out these loans in some ill-advised attempt to live more comfortably in the short-term. They took out loans because they had depleted the entirety of their personal savings paying for my education. Taking out loans was our absolute last resort. Carstens’ comments are not just demeaning to the families of students who are ultimately forced to go into debt to fund their education, but a slap in the face. They are a dismissal of the plight of many Penn students in an attempt to save the reputation of a university that designed the “no-loan policy” solely to keep up with its rival institutions.

Carstens’ comments move from belittling to willfully ignorant near the end of the DP article, when he expresses a “desire” to discover why students choose to take out loans at Penn. In my term as UMOJA co-chair, I and other board members engaged in several conversations with Carstens. Throughout these conversations, Student Financial Services has both heard the pleas of student leaders and has seen Penn’s data on student loans — data that is not publicly disclosed. SFS has more than enough information to come to a conclusion on why Penn students take out loans. SFS knows from examining data from the senior exit survey, that as a student’s household income decreases, the percentage of students who take out loans significantly increases, particularly as we get lower and lower on the income scale. From a personal appeal standpoint, Penn students from all walks of life have shared with SFS why they take out loans. The vast majority of the time, the answer is simple: Students take out loans because they can’t afford to pay what SFS claims that they can.

Whether or not the “no-loan policy” is an achievable goal at this time, the fact that Penn continues to sell the fabricated existence of the “no-loan policy,” while subsequently ignoring the pleas of students who are forced to take out loans, shows a “determined ambivalence” on behalf of both the University and Student Financial Services. The University must stop feigning ignorance in regards to the “no-loan policy” in order to save face. Only then will the University continue to make steps towards creating a true space for low-income students and not a farce designed to make our pamphlet look more attractive when it comes time for high school seniors to apply to Penn.

DENZEL CUMMINGS is a College senior from Laurinburg, N.C., studying PPE. His email address is denzelcu@sas.upenn.edu. “The Vision” is a column for unfiltered black voices that appears every Tuesday.

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