Harvard undergraduate tuition will be free for students from families making $200,000 or less, starting next fall, the university announced Monday in its latest effort to provide an Ivy League education to those who might otherwise be priced out.
Attending Harvard will be completely free for students from families making $100,000 or less, with the university committing to cover housing, health insurance and travel costs between campus and home.
Undergraduate tuition at Harvard College was more than $56,000 this year, while total cost of attendance was almost $83,000, according to the institution’s financial aid website. (Harvard College is the undergraduate institution at the university.)
The announcement builds on the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, which was launched in 2004 to make college affordable for people of all economic backgrounds. Since its inception, the initiative has raised its income threshold several times, and currently, students from families with incomes under $85,000 attend Harvard for free.
Harvard is among several higher education institutions expanding their financial aid offerings to support lower- and middle-income families.
In November, MIT announced that undergraduates from families earning below $200,000 would attend tuition-free starting next semester, while those with incomes under $100,000 will receive full coverage.
Similarly, the University of Pennsylvania said in November it will cover tuition costs for students from families earning up to $200,000 annually. The University of Texas system pledged undergraduates from families with incomes below $100,000 will attend tuition-free, starting next fall.
Harvard said Monday it wants to specifically entice middle-income families. While it did not indicate the source of funds to cover the tuition, the university has a whopping $53.2 billion endowment for fiscal year 2024.
“Putting Harvard within financial reach for more individuals widens the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that all of our students encounter, fostering their intellectual and personal growth,” university President Alan M. Garber said in a statement.
Currently, 55% of undergraduates receive financial aid, with the average family contribution standing at $15,700 in 2023-2024, said the statement.
The financial aid website says scholarship funds come from “a variety of sources, including Harvard endowment funds, gifts from alumni, general tuition revenues, and federal and state grants.”
The rising cost of going to college is hardly a secret.
Between 1980 and 2020, the average price of tuition, fees, room and board for an undergraduate degree increased by 169%, according to a report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
The average tuition and fees at US private colleges grew to about $43,000 a year, according to data collected by US News & World Report.
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