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By Suzanne Blake
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As Harvard University announced free tuition for all families making under $200,000, higher education in America faces a reckoning over its affordability for the everyday American.
For decades, millions of college students have taken out loans to cover their education, but some colleges actually offer fully free tuition for those who meet certain criteria.
Why It Matters
More than 46 million Americans have student loan debt, collecting a nationwide debt of nearly $2 trillion.
Read More on U.S.
While former President Joe Biden made strides for student loan forgiveness via several programs, President Donald Trump has challenged the Education Department's power and invoked mass layoffs at the agency.
What To Know
On Monday, Harvard announced that free tuition will be available for families making under $200,000 starting in the 2025-2026 school year.
"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 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."
Due to this, around 86 percent of U.S. families would qualify for financial aid at Harvard next school year.
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Several other colleges have chosen to give free tuition to some students:
- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology removed tuition costs for undergraduates from families earning less than $200,000 a year.
- The University of Pennsylvania said it would also allow students from families earning $200,000 or less to receive free tuition. Previously, the school set its limit at $140,000.
- Carnegie Mellon provides free tuition for families making $75,000 or less.
- Brandeis enables students from families making $75,000 or less to avoid tuition costs.
- Stanford families earning $150,000 or less do not have to pay tuition.
- All nine University of Texas schools have waived tuition for families earning $100,000 or less.
- All public state schools in New Mexico offer residents free tuition.
- If they live in the state, families making $55,000 or less can get free tuition at the University of Wisconsin.
- Columbia University set its household income threshold at $150,000 for free tuition.
- Dartmouth and Brown University provide free tuition for students from households making $125,000 or less.
- Students at Cornell and Yale from families making $75,000 or less will get free tuition.
- Princeton permits students from families earning $160,000 or less free tuition.
- Arkansas residents will get free tuition at the University of Arkansas if their family income is under $70,000.
- Duke offers free tuition to North and South Carolina students if their families make $150,000 or less.
- The New York University Promise ensures that students whose families make under $100,000 do not have to pay for tuition.
- State University of New York schools offer residents the opportunity to attend college tuition-free if their families make $125,000 or less.
While some schools choose to serve low-income students by combining grants, scholarships and work-study loans to help meet their financial needs, others have promised to keep these students and their families from taking on loans.
What People Are Saying
HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek: "Most colleges haven't historically offered free tuition, outside of smaller schools and some state schools. However, we're seeing a trend in more universities and more prestigious schools offering some semblance of free tuition.
"Prospective students looking for tuition-free colleges should start in their community or with their state schools. Qualifying often relies on state residence and income level."
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: "When it comes to free tuition for students, both the number of schools that offer it and the criteria needed to obtain it are small. Only a few dozen nationwide provide select students with the ability to go tuition free, with many of these like Harvard being universities that make the vast majority of their income from students from higher income households, donors who may or may not be alumni, and federal and state grants."
What Happens Next
If colleges offer free tuition to low-income students, many will likely attend who previously did not have the financial means to, Beene said. However, as college enrollment is down nationally, universities will have to find the funds to make that commitment.
"Offering a student to go tuition-free based on their household income and/or academic achievement level ensures some students who would more than likely thrive at their institution but don't have the financial resources could attend," Beene said.
"And, of course, this doesn't equate to the student never producing income for the university, as the hope is that student could become a donor after graduation or even fill a role while attending that a grant or other financial resource could provide for financially."
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