‘Smith Is Decreasing Barriers to Entry’
Supporting Smith
If education has the potential to be transformational, shouldn’t it be accessible to all? A sociologist says yes.
Published April 1, 2022
Smith’s initiative to eliminate loans comes amidst growing national pressure from activists and some politicians to forgive either part or all of borrowers’ student loan debt. Proponents of debt forgiveness note that student loan debt is distributed unequally across racial lines. For instance, data show that Black students are more likely to carry student loan debt than are other racial and ethnic groups, and that their debt burdens are higher, on average. This inequality both reflects and contributes to formidable and stubborn racial inequalities in wealth.
With this investment, Smith decreases barriers to entry and the cost of its education that are felt most acutely by students of color. It also helps to address dynamics on campus that can become fraught with the tension of deep inequalities among students from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds.
A college degree has become an increasingly important step toward economic security and professional fulfillment. As we know at Smith, the transformational potential of education lies not only in these instrumental purposes of college. A liberal arts education is intrinsically valuable, allowing students to engage with fundamental questions about what it means to be human and to exist with others in community. Through our curriculum and co-curriculum, students determine what matters to them and how they will enact their values in the world. This other transformational potential of education—to get to know oneself and one’s place in the world more deeply—should be accessible to everyone. Removing loans from Smith’s financial aid packages is an important step toward that goal, and one that can make all of us proud to belong to this community.
Out: Shame, Stigma In: Passion, Potential
Faculty members’ quick takes on the promise of life without student loans.
“For many years, the student loan debt situation has stifled economic growth and stability for many college attendees and graduates. Access to education is a social justice issue. The rise in the encouragement and need for more people—especial ly those historically excluded from education by colonialism, white supremacy, classism, and sexism—to attend college coexists with surging out-of-pocket costs. The idea that college attendance can be debt free is revolutionary. My hope is that Smith College is seen as a trailblazer in this area of justice, encouraging not just other institutions to follow suit, but also city and state governments to make a note of the impact that this decision can make in the lives of their current students and future alumni.”
CANDICE PRICE, associate professor of mathematics and statistics
“I am reminded of the famous poem ‘Harlem’ by Langston Hughes, which starts, ‘What happens to a dream deferred? / Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun?’ This remains a salient, timeless question that reverberates throughout our society, especially with access to higher education. With this new policy change, I am thinking about all the dreams that can be pursued at Smith College instead of delayed due to financial constraint. I am thinking about the freedom a grant would have given my single mother, who went into difficult debt so that I could pursue my dream of being a poet.”
TIANA CLARK, Grace Hazard Conkling Writer-in-Residence 2021–22
IMAGINE WHAT’S POSSIBLE
What does it mean for a new generation of Smithies to graduate free from crushing student debt?
Read on to see.
FROM THE PRESIDENT
A Bold Investment in Financial Aid
How did the decision to eliminate loans come to be? President McCartney offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most consequential decisions of her tenure.
FINANCIAL HEALTH
‘A More Appealing Education for All’
How might the new policy impact student decisions before and after college? An economics professor weighs in.
DREAMS WITHIN REACH
‘How Will You Ever Afford to...?’
And other questions an education professor anticipates hearing less of now that loans will no longer deter students from pursuing a career like teaching.
This story appears in the Spring 2022 issue of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly.
A More Flexible Future
The new policy will allow students to focus on the present and give them more options after graduation.
Anna Gyorgy AC
My journey to Smith involved financial struggles that prevented me from prioritizing my education, so this decision strikes a personal chord. It means so much to me to know that Smith is making this commitment so that its students will not have to choose between their financial stability and pursuing their dreams.
This move has implications far beyond the financial. Decisions like this are essential in fostering a diverse community of students with different backgrounds and perspectives. Every step taken to make Smith more affordable means that students like myself have more time and energy to focus on our studies, our passions, and our futures.
Graduating debt free will enable us to make decisions about our lives, continued education, and careers based on interest, desire, and passion, instead of letting financial anxiety dictate our next steps. For me, graduating with less debt will make my goal of attending graduate school in landscape design far more attainable; it might even convince me to take some time off to travel! Whatever I choose to pursue after Smith, I know that I will have more freedom to explore.
Delia Haston ’25
Why is a bold move like this important for students?
A move like this is more than important for students; I’d say it’s almost crucial. This decision means that Smith is going to be accessible to so many more people. It means that Smith’s community is going to gain more wonderful people who will do wonderful things, and the campus as a whole will benefit as a result.
What will you be able to accomplish that might not have been possible if you had to worry about large amounts of loan debt?
I can consider graduate school without worrying about loans crushing me and preventing me from going, I could travel after school with the money that before would’ve gone toward loan payments, or I could even use that money to further my savings toward a house or something in the future. The elimination of loans means that my future gives me a lot more flexible options, and it gives me so much hope for my life after Smith.
Photographs by Lynne Graves
Illustration by Fernando Cobelo