Tufts is nearly twice as selective as W&L and likely attracts a lot of full-pay families. And, they’re in a high COL region. So, they’re in a position to charge what the market will bear.
Whether their proximity to Boston is a feature or a bug really depends on which audience they are appealing to. To fellow NESCAC colleges, the onus has always been to disprove that they are a suitcase school on the weekends (they probably aren’t.) That being said, there’s a world of difference between needing a car to buy a carton milk and being blocks away from a mass transit system. This should be a very easy decision.