The gates at Brown University on the East Side of Providence.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

PROVIDENCE — Following a nationwide trend among prestigious colleges, Brown University announced yesterday that it would greatly expand financial aid for students from middle-class families.

Beginning in the fall, students from families with incomes of less than $60,000 won’t have to contribute anything toward a Brown education, while those from families with incomes of less than $100,000 will receive aid packages entirely free of loans. Aid to families earning more than $100,000 will still require loans, but at sharply reduced amounts.

While aid is going up, so is tuition. The university also announced yesterday that undergraduate tuition and fees for the 2008-2009 academic year will rise 3.9 percent, to $47,740.

Brown officials indicated last month that boosting aid for middle-income families would be considered at the winter business meeting of its governing board, which began yesterday. The university disseminated the news on its Web site and in news releases.

“Today, we take another major step forward to ensure that our nation’s best students from lower- and middle-income families can attend Brown and graduate without the enormous burden of college debt,” President Ruth J. Simmons said in a statement.

“We recognize and understand the concerns of America’s families about the rising cost of higher education. With our new aid package and a smaller increase in tuition, we hope to address their concerns in a fiscally responsible manner while continuing to attract the best students with diverse backgrounds to Brown.”

Stanford University adopted similar financial aid relief last week, as did Harvard and Yale late last year. And in recent years, Princeton University and a handful of elite smaller colleges, such as Amherst and Williams, began expanding aid to middle-income families. Most of the universities and colleges making the aid changes have endowments of more than $1 billion. Brown’s $2.3 billion endowment is the 26th largest in the country.

The amount Brown spends on undergraduate financial aid will increase 20 percent next year, reaching $68.5 million, the university said in its statement. The elimination and reduction of loans and the elimination of parent contributions for lower-income families will add $7.4 million to the budget.

Current financial aid packages saddle families that earn less than $100,000 with debt ranging from $10,000 to $25,000, according to the university. Those who qualify for financial aid with incomes above $100,000 incur debt of $25,000. In the fall, families with incomes below $100,000 won’t have to take out loans. In the fall, debt will be $12,000 for those with incomes up to $125,000, $16,000 for those with incomes up to $150,000 and $20,000 for those with incomes in excess of $150,000.

The governing board approved an operating budget of $752.9 million for fiscal 2009, an increase of 6.7 percent over this year. Undergraduate tuition will rise to $36,928, or $47,740 including room, board, health services and other fees.

In adopting the budget, Brown will rely more heavily on its endowment than in the past. University policy had limited what could be spent from the endowment on the operating budget to no more than 5.5 percent of its three-year average value. The amount to be drawn upon next year will be 5.89 percent. Tuition and fees will remain the largest source of revenue, but while they provided 58 of all revenue six years ago, that figure is expected to fall to 50 percent next year.

A long-term plan calls for increasing the size of the faculty by 100 positions. Depending on the outcome of current searches, the faculty may grow by 20 positions next year for a total of 700, the largest in Brown history.

Graduate students will also get additional relief beginning next year. Stipends, which average $19,000 for doctoral students, will increase an average of 16 percent.

Harvard, with an endowment of $34.6 billion, will allow families with income between $120,000 and $180,000 to pay 10 percent of their income. At Yale, which has a $22.5-billion endowment, families with income between $60,000 and $120,000 will pay from 1 percent to 10 percent of Yale’s $45,000 annual costs. Families earning less than $60,000 will pay nothing to attend either Ivy League school.