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 .
The faculty’s fiscal position is clearly less comfortable now—and the level of budgetary uncertainty is increasing. But the expense of the undergraduate aid enhancements (no figure has been disclosed) may be less than meets the eye, for two reasons.
First, as noted above, to the degree that for the middle-income cohort shifting from the current model (graduated costs from 0 to 10 percent of family income for those in the $85,000-$150,000 income band) to the new, enhanced one (free tuition plus under $200,000) is a matter of definition or description, FAS’s incremental investment in aid may be relatively modest.
Second, a lingering effect from the pandemic may further cushion the impact on FAS’s finances. Student leaves of absence and deferrals of admission during the period of remote instruction continue to work through Harvard’s undergraduate enrollment. According to FAS’s financial annual report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, “From a peak average enrollment in residence in fiscal 2023 of 7,058, fiscal 2024 enrollment declined to 6,960.