25 Private Colleges w/ Generous Financial Aid Reported by Forbes

Applying to College College Headlines
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As part of our annual Top Colleges ranking, Forbes identified 25 schools that offer stand-out scholarship packages to first-time, full-time undergraduates. These colleges—spread from Pennsylvania to Kentucky to Michigan—discount their listed cost of attendance by at least 50% for all, or nearly all, students.

The list includes:

  • Washington & Jefferson College
  • Berea College
  • Albion College
  • Soka University of America
  • Beloit College
  • Ohio Wesleyan University
  • Kalamazoo College
  • Lawrence University
  • The College of Wooster
  • University of Tulsa
  • Wabash College
  • St. Olaf College
  • DePauw University
  • College of the Atlantic
  • Luther College
  • Hobart William Smith Colleges

Full list can be found here: 25 Private Colleges With Generous Financial Aid

Is anyone considering these schools for the 2025-2026 application cycle?

What are other schools with generous financial aid not included on the list?

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Stats from most recent year of IPEDS are below. This grouping includes students in federal database, which is mostly persons eligible for Pell grants or persons taking federal loans. I excluded religious specialty colleges (Yeshiva, Bible School, …), tribal colleges, and other specialty groups. I also excluded colleges for which low net cost relates to low sticker prices, rather than FA, such as Rust or BYU-Idaho. The colleges below have a lot of overlap with lists of colleges that meet full need without loans, such as the one at (link not allowed, use a Google search) – mostly super high endowment per student, highly selective colleges; but also Berea and Ozarks.

Lowest Average Net Cost for $30 to $48k Income

  1. MIT: $-2k (Negative)
  2. Williams: $-1k (Negative)
  3. Dartmouth: $-0k (Negative)
  4. Stanford: $-0k (Negative)
  5. Chicago: $-0k (Negative)
  6. Duke: $0k
  7. Wellesley: $1k
  8. Washington & Lee: $1k
  9. Caltech: $1k
  10. Colby: $1k

Lowest Average Net Cost for $48 to $75k Income

  1. Williams: $-0k (Negative)
  2. Chicago: $1k
  3. Stanford: $1k
  4. Rice: $1k
  5. WUSTL: $2k
  6. Harvard: $2k
  7. Johns Hopkins: $4k
  8. MIT: $5k
  9. Pomona: $5k
  10. Columbia: $5k

Lowest Average Net Cost for $75 to $110k Income

  1. Berea: $8k (100% FA, average aid = $52k)
  2. Stanford: $9k
  3. Williams: $9k
  4. Washington & Lee: $9k
  5. Ozarks: $10k
  6. Spring Hill: $10k
  7. Gallaudet: $10k (abnormal distribution, likely small sample size issue)
  8. Wesleyan: $11k
  9. Milikin: $11k
  10. Cooper Union: $12k

Largest Average FA

  1. Amherst: $64k FA, Average Net Cost = $18k
  2. Williams: $63k FA, Average Net Cost = $17k
  3. Princeton: $63k FA, Average Net Cost = $20k
  4. Wesleyan: $61k FA, Average Net Cost = $20k
  5. Yale: $61k FA, Average Net Cost = $26k
  6. Dartmouth: $60k FA, Average Net Cost = $17k
  7. Pomona: $59k FA, Average Net Cost = $17k
  8. Stanford: $59k FA, Average Net Cost = $18k
  9. Wellesley: $59k FA, Average Net Cost = $22k
  10. Middlebury: $58k FA, Average Net Cost = $23k
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Brandeis has free or half tuition for families making less than $200K: The Brandeis Commitment | Office of Student Financial Services | Brandeis University

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I’m surprised that Olin College of Engineering is not on the list. Everyone who is admitted automatically gets a merit based tuition scholarship.

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Starting in 2026, it switches to $10k/year, citing an unsustainable endowment draw.

Under 50% tuition discount + other FA, average net cost at Olin was ~$40k, which is higher than numerous others. While average was higher, Olin was often a less expensive selective private type option for students with income/assets too high to qualify for FA. Among students who did not have very high income/assets, there are others that were typically less expensive. Example stats from Harvard’s NPC are below:

  • $100k Income – $3k/year (Harvard less expensive)
  • $150k Income – $16k/year (Harvard less expensive)
  • $200k Income – $30k/year (Harvard less expensive)
  • $250k Income – $49k/year (Similar cost)
  • $300k Income – $75k/year (Olin less expensive)
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While I don’t know how it compares to the list, for our family (non-need based eligible), Agnes Scott College due to “merit” aid all students get and out of state grants they give as well, costs about the same as in-state flagship for us. That said, they do not meet full demonstrated need of everyone who needs financial aid, so YMMV.