HIGHER EDUCATION

Princeton to cover all college bills for families making up to $100,000

Next year, a quarter of its students will pay nothing to attend the Ivy League university

By Nick Anderson
September 8, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. EDT

For six years, Princeton University has boasted that the average family making less than $65,000 a year pays nothing for an undergraduate student’s tuition, room and board. Financial aid grants cover the entire bill.

Now the Ivy League school, one of the world’s wealthiest and most exclusive universities, is extending that pledge to include most families earning up to $100,000. The new full-ride benchmark, announced Thursday, will take effect in fall 2023. More than a quarter of Princeton undergraduates are expected to qualify. The aid expansion will also benefit families over the threshold, including even many affluent ones with incomes of as much as $300,000.

For students who receive no financial aid, the estimated cost of attendance at Princeton this year is $79,540. That counts tuition, meals, housing and miscellaneous expenses. So the value of a full ride, over four years, is well over $300,000.

[The next inflation-driven worry: Rising college tuition]

Such are the benefits — for the select few who can get in — of attending a university with an endowment valued last year at more than $37 billion. Huge recent investment returns on that money are supporting the new aid.

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By Nick Anderson
Nick Anderson covers higher education and other education topics for The Washington Post. He has been a writer and editor at The Post since 2005. Twitter https://twitter.com/wpnick