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The University of Virginia and George Washington University have recently taken steps to ease the tuition burden on students by way of financial aid.

The University of Virginia introduced a plan to make enrollment a reality for all qualifying students, regardless of economic status.

The program, named “Access UVa,” has four components, according to a written release by the university. The plan is designed to eliminate need-based loans for low-income students, cap need-based loans for entering classes, continue a program launched in 2001 to meet 100 percent of student-demonstrated need, and provide financial education to students and their families.

“This is a plan that looks at all of our students on aid, at all income levels,” Yvonne Hubbard, the university’s director of student financial services and architect of the Access UVa, program, said in a written release.

Last year, the average debt of Universiy of Virginia graduates was $13,500, a figure below the national average of $16,200 at public universities, according to the release. The release also said 50 students graduated with need-based debts between $20,000 and $30,000.

The plan will cost the university $16 million each year and will run for the next four years.

While the University of Virginia, a public institution, is providing funds to low-income students to eliminate any need to borrow money, George Washington University, a private institution, plans on freezing tuition levels for each freshman for the entire duration of the student’s education.

Bob Ludwig, interim director of GWU, said the university’s fixed-rate tuition plan is a way to control costs for the university and to provide some predictability for parents. “[The plan] is a way for the university to be creative in finding new ways to raise revenue and pay the university’s bills,” he said. “It’s also mindful to the challenges students pay.”

Ludwig said while the plan freezes tuition costs every year for each student, the price the university will charge each student could fluctuate for each new freshman class.

He said freshman who enter GWU this year will pay a fixed rate of $34,000 for the next four or five years, as opposed to the $30,820 that students who entered in fall 2003 or spring 2004 paid.

“For the next class that comes in, [tuition] may be higher,” he said. “Each year as each class comes in, we’ll evaluate [the costs]. All students will pay a certain rate, but different classes will pay a different rate.”

According to a GWU press release, housing and food prices will continue to fluctuate with normal inflationary pressures. Other issues may factor into the amount of aid given.

“Let’s say a student gets $10,000 of institutional aid. That level would be guaranteed for four years each year, possibly five years,” Ludwig said. “That level may go up if a student’s parent loses a job and their needs increase, but it could never go down.”

Financial renovations will cost GWU about $14 million in the next academic year, boosting the university’s total student-aid funding to $123 million.

The Board of Trustees at GWU also approved a 5 percent increase in tuition and fees for full-time graduate and undergraduate students, while tuition at the law school will increase by 5.25 percent. Tuition at GWU’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences will increase by 2.5 percent for first-year students and by about 2 percent for continuing students under the plan.

Steve Van Ess, director of University of Wisconsin student financial services, said the concept of financial aid is currently a big issue nationwide.

“There is increased awareness about financial aid right now, and it’s good there is concern,” he said.

Van Ess said although the availability of aid affects the demographics of students who attend UW, a financial-aid structure similar to the ones at these universities is impossible for a school of UW’s size.

“I don’t know what it would take for UW to do [a similar plan], but our university is a lot bigger,” he said. “UW is looking at these game plans, but we can’t do what they’re doing — our student loan debt is a lot bigger.”