Harvard Just Made Tuition Free For Students

It was a big deal when I was accepted to Emerson College in Boston, MA. That reality quickly became squashed when my family and I saw the price tag of $40,000 a year. I decided to grab an internship at a radio station and simultaneously attend community college. It's served me well. No debt, to boot.

Massachusetts, under the Healey-Driscoll administration, has made tuition at any of the state's 15 community colleges free. As long as you haven't got a bachelor's degree already and are at least 25 years old, you're good to go.

Well, Harvard University made headlines on Thursday when they announced that tuition would be waived for any family making less that $200,000. This will start with the 2025-2026 academic school year. Additionally, families who make less than $100,000 will get boarding and food costs covered as well as tuition.

Tuition at Harvard costs about $56,000 a year, up to $84,000 with boarding and food.

“Putting Harvard within financial reach for more individuals widens the array of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives that all of our students encounter, fostering their intellectual and personal growth,” Harvard University President Alan Garber said in a statement. “By bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University.” -apnews.com

That's pretty sweet. Will you get in though?

The average person will not get into Harvard University. The elite school has an acceptance rate of about 4.5%.

For the Harvard class of 2025, the average Harvard SAT scores ranged from 1460-1570, while the average ACT score ranged from 33-35. -collegeadvisor.com

I was a student of the 90s when the thought was "college or fail", thankfully that sentiment has changed. Student debt without the job salary to pay it off is a massive problem the U.S. Some feel, however, that the power of earning a degree has been too belittled.

Yet research still finds that, over time, a degree pays off. Americans with a bachelor’s degree earn a median of $2.8 million during their careers, 75% more than if they had only a high school diploma, according to research from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.