Yale to Waive Tuition for Families Under $200,000 Income

Yale University announced it will waive undergraduate tuition for newly admitted students from U.S. families earning under $200,000 a year starting with the class enrolling in fall 2026, with those at lower incomes also getting housing, meals, travel, health insurance and start‑up grants covered. Previously, Yale offered a "no-cost" package only to families below $75,000; officials now estimate roughly 80% of U.S. households will qualify for free tuition and nearly half for a completely free Yale education, at a school whose full sticker price exceeds $90,000 annually. The move effectively matches Harvard’s expanded aid policy and follows similar steps at Penn, MIT and other elites, part of a post‑2023 Supreme Court race‑conscious admissions ruling strategy to use need‑based aid to sustain racial and economic diversity without explicitly considering race. Yale’s admissions dean Jeremiah Quinlan framed the change as an investment to ensure cost "will never be a barrier," while policy analyst Richard Kahlenberg said boosting economic diversity is now one of the few legally safe ways to broaden racial and viewpoint diversity at top campuses amid eroding public trust in higher education. The decision also intensifies an arms race among wealthy universities that can afford deep discounts, raising pressure on less‑rich private and public colleges that cannot match these offers but must now compete for the same high‑achieving low‑ and middle‑income students.