Yale University to offer free tuition to families who earn less than $200,000 a year

Yale University said Tuesday it plans to offer free tuition to U.S. households with annual incomes of less than $200,000 starting this upcoming academic year.

The Ivy League school, based in New Haven, Connecticut, said it would eliminate all costs for families making up to $100,000 and offer enough financial aid to meet or exceed tuition costs for households that earn up to $200,000.

In a statement to CBS News, Yale University provost Scott Strobel said the new policy aligns with the school’s mission to “educate exceptional students from all backgrounds.”

Of the roughly 6,800 undergraduate students at Yale, 1,000 currently attend tuition-free, while just over half qualify for need-based aid, according to Kari DiFonzo, director of undergraduate financial aid at Yale. 

Without financial aid, Yale’s annual undergraduate tuition could swell to $90,000, including the cost of food and housing, according to the school’s website. The university has offered free tuition for families who make up to $75,000 since 2020. 

The median annual household income in the U.S. was $105,800 as of 2024, data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows.

Yale joins several other prestigious academic institutions, including Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, that have recently expanded financial assistance in a bid to attract more middle- and lower-income Americans. All three schools announced last year that they would offer free tuition for families with annual incomes of $200,000 or less starting in the 2025-26 academic year. 

Emory University, a private research school in Atlanta, will start this fall also offer free tuition for families with incomes below $200,000.

The affordability push from some of the nation’s most prominent schools comes as some younger people question the value of a college degree, given the often sizable out-of-pocket costs. As of 2024, the total cost of attending a four-year college was $30,000 after financial aid awards, according to a New York Federal Reserve Bank study last year.

Nearly 43 million Americans, or 1 in 6 adults, owed federal student loan debt as of fiscal year 2024, according to Congress.gov.