The charming campus pictured at the top of the article appears to be Dartmouth College, which racks up an eye-popping $87,793 estimated cost for incoming studen

The charming campus pictured at the top of the article appears to be Dartmouth College, which racks up an eye-popping $87,793 estimated cost for incoming students this fall. Like other Ivies and elite schools, Dartmouth claims "no [required] student loans" but this ignores "unrequired" loans as well as loans that parents may have to take out to meet the parental contribution, which considers assets including home equity. (External scholarship money, if any, is typically deducted from "financial need" which means it has little effect on expected contribution.)