Second, to overcome families’ sticker shock at posted $80,000-plus term bills (a strong deterrent to applying), the way in which aid is described is shifting. A major HFAI emphasis was demystifying aid, so applicants from lower-income families could readily determine their prospective college costs—or be assured that they would incur none. As described by the Harvard Financial Aid Office’s “How Aid Works” webpage (at least before today’s announcement), above the $85,000 family income threshold for free attendance during 2024-2025, “Families with annual incomes between $85,000 and $150,000 will contribute between 0 and 10 percent of their income. Those with incomes above $150,000 will be asked to pay proportionately more than 10 percent based on their circumstances.”
According to the March 2024 University news release on class of 2028 admissions, “Nearly one-quarter of students attend Harvard with no parent contribution”—meaning their family incomes then were $85,000 or below. That suggests that across the other 30 percent of the undergraduates receiving aid, the average family cost would have been somewhat less than twice the $15,700: from a minimal amount (a percent or so of family income for those with income in excess of $85,000) to more than the average (more than 10 percent of family income for those with income in excess of $150,000), per the stepped percentage-of-income formula.
As a practical matter, for most students, the level of aid granted under the new tiers unveiled today may not differ that significantly from the prior level of aid (including that granted under the stepped-up contribution for those with family incomes above $150,000). This year’s term bill is $82,866 (including the $56,550 tuition component); assuming the 2025-2026 bill again increases about 4 percent, to about $86,000 (and tuition to about $58,800), families with incomes of $200,000 or less will be looking at an additional aid amount (“free tuition plus”) to cover some portion of $27,200 of room, board, and fees. Under the old formula, those with incomes of $150,000 and above were going to be asked to pay somewhat in excess of 10 percent of family income toward their child’s annual cost of attendance, depending on their individual circumstances. The aim of the new aid structure is to provide some benefit for families in the middle-income band.
Updated March 25, 2025, 9:20 A.M.: The College has posted, but not otherwise announced, the 2025-2026 term bill: $86,926, a larger-than-estimated increase of $4,060, or 4.9 percent, over the current year. That represents a continuing, sharp escalation in the rate of increase from prior years: the 2024-2025 term bill was 4.3 percent larger than the prior year’s, which in turn represented a 3.5 percent increase over year before that (and a preceding long period of 3.0 percent annual increases).
The billed expenses include tuition ($59,320), room ($13,532), board ($8,598), and fees ($5,476). Under the new financial aid terms, students from families with incomes of $200,000 or less will not be billed for the tuition part of the annual charges, and those with incomes of $100,000 or less will attend free of charge.
But as a communicative matter, it may be a simpler sell, or a more comforting one, simply to tell applicants’ families that the tuition part of the cost of attendance is zero for those households with incomes $200,000 and below, and that some aid may be in the offing for the rest of the term bill.
In other words, by today’s announcement, Harvard College is meeting much of the market in both the level of aid it offers, and the description and structuring of that scholarship support.
…and in FAS’s changing fiscal context. The timing of the augmented financial aid announcement is strategic: applicants to the Harvard class of 2029 are about to learn whether they have been admitted—and will want to compare scholarship offers as they choose where to matriculate.
But the timing is also difficult for Harvard and FAS, which have made announcements in the past two weeks about the need for belt-tightening amid President Donald Trump’s threats to research funding and other financial pressures (see below and “Harvard Announces Hiring Freeze,” which also reports on prospective reductions in Graduate School of Arts and Sciences admissions). Last year, when it became imperative to increase graduate student stipends at an aggregate cost of many millions of dollars (Harvard had fallen well behind peers’ offers, the local cost of living is extremely high, and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences admissions yields had accordingly plummeted), FAS seemed well positioned to bear the expense.