Harvard University has announced it is widening its free tuition threshold as the school looks to attract more students from diverse backgrounds.
Students from families with annual incomes of $200,000 or less will not have to pay tuition starting from the 2025-26 academic year, it was announced today.
‘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,’ Harvard University President Alan M. Garber said on Monday.
‘By bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University.’
The announcement comes after the prestigious Ivy League faced a slight decrease in applications last year, following a series of campus scandals and the resignation of its former president, Claudine Gay.
The $200,000 quota is a massive jump from the $85,000 threshold for free tuition it had in 2023.
Tuition at the Ivy League for the 2024 to 2025 academic year, including all fees, is over $80,000, according to the school website.
The university began covering the cost of tuition and other expenses through the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative in 2004 for families with annual incomes of $40,000 or less.
Harvard University announced it is widening its free tuition threshold for students from families with annual incomes of $200,000 or less
University President Alan M. Garber (pictured) said the increase is an effort to ‘widen the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that all of our students encounter’
It has expanded the threshold four times, including from $60,000 in 2006 to $85,000 in 2023. The latest move to $200,000 is the biggest jump so far.
The latest expansion will enable approximately 86 percent of U.S. families to qualify for Harvard College’s financial aid.
Experts believe this is an effort to attract more minority students since the Supreme Court banned the use of racial preferences in college admissions.
‘Now that universities can no longer employ racial preferences, if they want racial diversity, the best path forward is to boost the chances of admissions of non-wealthy and working-class students, a disproportionate share of whom are black and Hispanic,’ Richard Kahlenberg, director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, told The New York Times.
‘To get such students to apply, and then to enroll, requires generous financial aid.’
Harvard saw a drop in applications for the class of 2028 following accusations of antisemitism in the wake of anti-Israel protests on campus over the war in Gaza.
Harvard received 54,008 undergraduate applications, about 5 percent fewer than last year, following the resignation of former president Claudine Gay amid plagiarism and antisemitism accusations.
Early applications to Harvard were down 17 percent, and regular ones dropped by almost 3 percent this year. The school accepted 1,937 students to its class of 2028, about 3.6 percent of applicants.
Despite the decline, it marked the fourth year in a row that it received more than 50,000 applications, according to the Harvard Crimson.
Harvard saw a drop in applications for the class of 2028 following accusations of antisemitism in the wake of anti-Israel protests on campus
The drop in applications followed the resignation of former president Claudine Gay (pictured) amid plagiarism and antisemitism accusations
The drop in applications follows accusations of antisemitism on campus at Harvard, which started with a student letter asserting that Israel was ‘entirely responsible’ for the October 7 attacks.
The student branch of the group Students for Justice in Palestine published the controversial letter blaming Israel for the Palestinian extremists’ terror plot.
The letter launched an outcry from many Harvard alumni and led to dozens of top-tier donors pulling their tens of millions from the school.
It was that series of events that started the ball rolling toward the ultimate ousting of Harvard President Gay, 53, who only lasted just six months in the role.
