Sounds great, right? Since Affirmative Action was struck down in college admissions, schools have been scrambling to find a way to increase applications from students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The University of California system and Princeton University were first to promise free tuition for low-income families. Then in late 2024, they were joined by a number of schools, including MIT, the University of Texas system, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Now they've been joined by the rest of the Ivies, Stanford, and several major state schools. This trend is likely to continue, encouraging more applications from lower income brackets.
Newsweek has a breakdown of schools here.
How will this affect you? Ultimately, colleges must offset fully supported students with more contributions from those who will be paying tuition, so we expect less aid to go towards non-qualifying families at these institutions. If these changes are big enough, more students from wealthier backgrounds may opt for schools that do not have a free tuition policy. We'll stay on top of these shifts and advise students accordingly.