Harvard University is giving free tuition for all students from families making $200,000 or less per year, the Ivy League school announced Monday.
That means about 86% of the American families will qualify for the free ride to one of the world’s most elite universities, according to ABC News.
And the deal gets sweeter for students of families making $100,000 or less — they will qualify for free housing, food, and health services in addition to tuition being covered by the school.
Average annual tuition for a Harvard student is $56,550, but with room, board and health services it comes out to about $83,000.
“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,” said Harvard president Alan M. Garber in a statement.
“By bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University,” he added.
Harvard has previously offered free rides for low-income students, but this latest development more than doubled the previous maximum qualifying annual income of $85,000 or less that was rolled out just two years ago in 2023.
Before that threshold, students from families making $60,000 or less qualified for free tuition in 2006, and $40,000 in 2004, ABC reported.
About 24,600 undergraduate students attend the Massachusetts university per year. In 2024, only 3.59% of the 54,000 people who applied to attend were accepted.
Roughly 55% of Harvard’s undergraduate population receive financial aid of some kind.
It is unclear what percentage of the student body will qualify for free tuition once the new rules come into effect in the 2025-26 academic year.
Harvard is just the latest elite institution to raise the ceiling of its free tuition qualifiers.
In November, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania both announced free tuition for students coming from families making $200,000 or less, according to the New York Times.
The California Institute of Technology, Dartmouth University, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Virginia also offer similar programs.
