Free Tuition for Undergraduates from Families with Annual Incomes of $200K or Less – One America News Network
OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
3:29 PM – Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Harvard University has become the latest Ivy League institution to announce that starting in the 2025–2026 academic year, tuition will be waived for incoming freshmen whose families earn $200,000 or less annually.
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“With this new, enhanced financial aid initiative, Harvard College will be tuition-free for students from families with annual incomes of $100,000 or less and tuition-free for those from families making $200,000 or less,” stated the university’s official news account on X.
This initiative adds to a growing list of prestigious private universities — particularly those in the “Ivy Plus” category — that have recently increased their financial aid offerings to attract students worried about escalating college costs.
In November, a Pennsylvania university indicated it would provide a financial assistance package inclusive of work-study and grants for students from families earning up to $200,000.
Similarly, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that freshmen from families earning $200,000 or less annually would also be exempt from paying tuition.
Other institutions, such as Dartmouth and Vanderbilt University, have raised financial aid last year to offer complete tuition scholarships to students from families below certain income thresholds. Prior to this, universities like Harvard, Duke, Princeton, Yale, and Northwestern eliminated student loans from their financial aid programs entirely.
“Harvard’s announcement is long overdue as Princeton raised its threshold for full aid, encompassing tuition, room, and board, for families earning below $100,000 in 2023,” remarked Hafeez Lakhani, founder and president of Lakhani Coaching, a New York education administration program.
Nevertheless, Lakhani stressed, it’s still a “powerful” message, as “it signals Harvard is not just matching Princeton but also taking a significant step forward in the competition for affordability.”
Harvard College claims that the total cost of attendance, encompassing housing and meals, is approximately $83,000 this year, even though undergraduate tuition alone exceeds $56,000.
In addition to its tuition-free initiative, the university has allowed students from families earning less than $85,000 annually to attend free of charge since 2023. This arrangement covers tuition, housing, meals, health insurance, and travel costs, with the threshold for families earning $100,000 or less now being elevated.
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