Yale Announces Free Tuition for Families Making Under $200K

Yale University is expanding its tuition-guarantee program, offering free tuition to all undergraduate students whose families make less than $200,000 a year. About 80 percent of American households have incomes under $200,000, according to the university’s Tuesday announcement.

For families who earn less than $100,000, Yale will now cover the full cost of attendance.

Yale began covering the full cost of attendance for families making under $65,000 annually in 2010 through the university’s “zero parent share” scholarship; the university raised the income threshold to $75,000 in 2020. Currently, over 1,000 students receive a zero parent share award.

“From my personal experience as a first-generation, low-income college student, I know that navigating financial aid can feel overwhelming,” said Kari DiFonzo, director of undergraduate financial aid, in the announcement. “Determining a family’s specific ability to contribute toward a college education can be complicated, but these new policies will make it easier for more families to quickly understand their cost.”

The expansion brings Yale in line with numerous other universities that have introduced or raised the maximum income level for their tuition guarantees over the past year. Only a handful, however, have reached the $200,000 mark, including Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.