In a new policy known as the Beacon Initiative, Bryn Mawr College has announced that it will be eliminating tuition costs for all U.S families earning up to $175,000 annually. The initiative was announced to the Bryn Mawr Community on October 9 in the Lantern newsletter.
The Beacon is part of the College’s commitment to increase access to higher education and liberal arts colleges. The initiative, which is set to begin in fall 2026, will apply to U.S applicants only, excluding international, transfer, or McBride students. The initiative also covers tuition increases, meaning that should the College’s tuition increase, eligible students will still be tuition free.
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These announcements are becoming more and more frequent. I wish journalists would dig a bit into how much of a change these policies really represent. At schools that already met need, were families at this income level paying more than room/board/fees/expenses before these initiatives were announced? Everything-but-tuition can add up to 30K/year at schools in higher COL areas - were families with ≤175K income paying more than that before, or is this just a faddish way to generate good publicity?
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I agree. Basically, I assume if the press release doesn’t explicitly state that the school has/will increase their institutional need budget that the ‘new’ no tuition at X income policy had already effectively been in place.
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Boy the colleges can’t win.
If they target their marketing money via mailers, social media, etc. to find kids who do NOT understand that they might qualify for need based aid, they get accused of cutting down too many trees, spending too much on advertising, “why did my kid get an invite to apply to U Chicago when everyone who knows her knows she hates cold weather”.
If they decide to pivot and conserve their $ for actual need based aid– and then hope that the media will pick up the story and do the advertising for them– which happens some but not all of the time- they’re accused of being duplicitous because “How is this news? Everyone knows that XYZ college is tuition free for incomes up to X”.
I know kids who would LOVE Bryn Mawr– and who right now, have no idea that they’d qualify for aid. The school sounds snooty and high end; they’ll just apply to City College, live at home, and not bother with private college applications.
I think any publicity around financial aid is good publicity. Despite our collective boredom on CC there are still families out there who have no idea how need based aid works. Their kids HS champions the athletic scholarships- so if your kid doesn’t play football or basketball, you assume everything is off the table except for a public, commutable option.
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