The financial aid program at Penn — touted as one of the best in the country — has been rebranded as an "all-grant" policy. Prior to the change made this summer, the program was referred to as a "no-loan" policy.
The change is limited to name only — the program remains the same, according to the University's financial aid webpage. The program still provides students with a financial aid package that includes grants and work-study jobs, and there are still no loans included in the program.
But the webpage also states that loans are available "at the student's discretion, to substitute for work-study and expected summer savings, for certain expenses not included in the standard academic year cost of attendance (e.g. health insurance), and for summer school."
Ron Ozio, Penn's director of Media Relations, confirmed that the program itself has not changed.
"There is no change to the program," he said in an email. "Penn remains one of the few universities in the country fully committed to an all-grant financial aid program. This was just an effort to simplify the way we talk about it."
Read more at The Daily Pennsylvanian: http://www.thedp.com/article/2015/08/penn-rebrands-financial-aid-policy