University of Virginia Library

Opportunity Bank

Expanded aid to students can be
of many types; what they have in
common is that they would advance
equality of opportunity and
would pose no threat to the independence
of universities - except
that the universities would be
forced to cater to a greater degree
to the students' desires; this might
not be a bad thing. But to solve the
universities' financial problem, each
student grant would have to be
accompanied by a grant to his
institution, unless tuition charges
went up.

Although there is some talk of a
system of universal grants, most of
the discussion revolves around a
much broader system of student
loans. Last year a presidential study
group proposed an Equal
Opportunity Bank, which would
finance the whole cost of college;
the recipient would repay the loan
through his income tax when he
began to earn: No one would, in
theory, he burdened by debt until
he was in a position to discharge it.
But what about women who never
enter paid employment? Would
they approach marriage with a
negative dowry? Would students
who never expected to earn much
flood the scheme while those who
expected to do well stayed out?