Today, ±«Óătv announced the ±«Óătv Commitment: An Initiative in Access and Affordability. The new policy provides full tuition support for the lowest-income students, aligns income and tuition costs for families with incomes between $80,000 and $150,000, and expands the no-loan initiative to $150,000, beginning with the Class of 2026.
The announcement comes on the heels of ±«Óătv’s record-breaking admission season, which saw a 104% increase in applications for the Class of 2025. This increase is attributable to a variety of factors, including the no-loan initiative, which replaces federal loans with ±«Óătv grants in aid packages. The initiative launched in fall 2020 for students with family incomes up to $125,000, a level that impacted 474 students.
For families with annual income levels of $80,000 or less, ±«Óătv will be fully tuition free. This move puts ±«Óătv in a small group of universities — including Brown, Duke, Harvard, and Stanford — that publicly pledge to be tuition free for their lowest-income students.
The ±«Óătv Commitment also targets lower- and middle-income families, who often face difficult conversations about choosing college based on net costs. Because such families might rule out a school like ±«Óătv based on perceived cost, the University commits to charge only a reasonable percentage of family income toward tuition.
Families with annual income levels between $80,000 and $125,000 will, on average, now pay just 5% of their income toward tuition. Families with annual income levels between $125,000 and $150,000 will, on average, pay 10% of their income toward tuition. (All levels of the ±«Óătv Commitment assume typical asset levels for those incomes.)
By making a ±«Óătv education more affordable, the University anticipates the ±«Óătv Commitment will have a positive effect on attracting and yielding top students.
The Admitted Student Survey and a preliminary analysis of the impact of the no-loan policy revealed that 78% of no-loan–eligible students who chose ±«Óătv believed their financial aid offers were superior to that of their other choices. Of that group, 60% indicated that ±«Óătv’s value was far superior to their other options.
“Families and their students need to know that the cost of a transformative education at ±«Óătv is affordable. I hope this new commitment, along with its strong alumni support, shows that ±«Óătv cares about attracting the best and brightest students regardless of their financial situation,” says Dean of Admission Tara Bubble.
Initial funding of $1 million for the ±«Óătv Commitment has been provided by generous members of the ±«Óătv community, through the ±«Óătv Fund. The University will seek an additional $25 million in gifts to the endowment during the next three years to fund the program in perpetuity.
“I can say without a doubt that increasing access to a ±«Óătv education is an initiative that so many alumni are tremendously proud to support,” says ±«Óătv Alumni Council President Christian B. Johnson ’02. “We know first-hand how ±«Óătv can change lives, and now we are all part of a movement to make it even more affordable for generations to come.”