As more students struggle to afford a college education due to the economic crisis, many colleges across the nation, including Boston University, are drastically increasing their financial aid packages.

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Public Affairs recently compiled a list of new affordability initiatives that 15 private institutions have announced for the 2009-10 school year, and initiatives that dozens of others will continue from this year.’

NAICU Vice President Roland King said private colleges are doing so because their ‘sticker price’ is far more daunting than that of public colleges for students.

‘They’re recognizing that they really have to be competitive in the far more competitive market than they’ve experienced in the past,’ King said

The recession almost requires schools to increase aid, he said.

Colleges are aggressively cutting their spending institution-wide, except for in the area of student aid, FastWeb Inc., a popular Internet scholarship search service, Advanced Projects Director Mark Kantrowitz said.

‘They realize that during a recession when people are in financial difficulty, it is one of the worst times to cut back on student aid,’ Kantrowitz said.

Many schools are eliminating student loans and replacing them with grants, including area schools Amherst College, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wellesley College.

‘We do not require students to take on debt in order to pay for their undergraduate educations,’ Amherst College spokeswoman Caroline Hanna said in an email.

Wellesley College spokeswoman Mary Ann Hill said Wellesley’s policy of loan replacement for grants went into effect this school year and eliminated loans for students whose family income is below $60,000.

‘We have a commitment to keeping our loan levels very low,’ Hill said.

Other colleges, among them MIT and College of the Holy Cross in Worcester go further with packages that eliminate tuition for eligible families, according to NAICU’s list.’

Holy Cross spokeswoman Kristine Maloney said in an email that students from Worcester whose families make less than $50,000 a year will receive free tuition for four years.

‘This year, because of the economic situation, Holy Cross has increased the financial aid funds available, with the possibility of adding more if needed,’ Maloney said.

These schools are able to implement these programs due to large endowments and alumni donations, university officials said. However, BU and other more tuition-dependent schools have not been able to keep up with the scope of their private institution counterparts’ programs.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said about half of BU’s operating budget comes from tuition and only three percent of the operating budget comes from the endowment, he said.

‘There are schools that get up to 30 to 40 percent of it,’ Riley said. ‘Those schools are facing different challenges than BU.’

BU has already seen an increase in submitted student financial aid appeals for this spring semester, according to a letter President Robert Brown sent to faculty Jan. 12. Beginning in fall 2009, BU will also replace loans with grants for Boston Public School graduates who attend BU, according to NAICU.

Colleges are currently under major financial stress, Kantrowitz said. Donations and endowments have fallen, as well as support from states.

‘ ‘Any time there is a recession . . . the state budget needs to be adjusted, and the first place they cut is higher education,’ Kantrowitz said.

Nationwide, 1.4 million additional students applied for financial aid in 2008, and colleges expect that number to increase even more this year, Kantrowitz said.

‘ ‘Heavily-tuition dependent’ schools with smaller endowments such as BU, are under more financial pressure than other schools, King said.

‘They don’t have a lot of wealthy alumni, they don’t have a lot of research funding or government grants and so their main revenue source is tuition,’ King said. ‘That’s a very different world than the places at the top of the pecking order in endowment size.’