The recent announcement of the Tufts Tuition Pact, a program that will cover tuition for U.S. students from families who earn less than $150,000 per year, has received many responses from the university’s community. While some concerns exist over the program’s timeframe and level of comprehensiveness, the Tufts Tuition Pact has received overall positive feedback due to its ability to make attending Tufts more affordable for middle-income families.
Beginning in fall 2026, Tufts will cover tuition for U.S. students from families who earn up to $150,000 per year, the university announced on Sept. 9.
With the new policy, Tufts will join a growing number of Massachusetts universities that have waived tuition for students from low-and-middle-income backgrounds in an effort to increase affordability.
“Universities have tried myriad ways to expand their financial aid investments and to communicate their policies in ways that prospective students and families will understand,” JT Duck, Tufts’ dean of admissions, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “The Tufts Tuition Pact is an important step forward in that work as it expands our commitment to financial aid and clarifies just how strong that commitment is to financial aid for middle and low-income families.”
Natasha Warikoo, a Tufts sociology professor who studies inequity in college admissions, described the steep cost of a Tufts education as the “No. 1 barrier” to expanding socioeconomic diversity on campus. Tufts’ tuition is $71,982 for the 2025–26 academic year, with its overall cost of attendance surpassing $96,000 — a price tag that tops the median household income in the United States.
“I don’t think we should assume that it’s the admissions criteria that is preventing more representation. I think it’s literally the cost,” Warikoo said.
Selective universities like Tufts have historically struggled to attract students in the middle-income range, Warikoo explained. Since these students are not always eligible for full financial aid, they are often more inclined to attend universities where tuition is less expensive.
“I think [the Tufts Tuition Pact] will make an impact, particularly on middle-income families — which you want, because you don’t want to have a university that has … students from very high incomes, and students from very low incomes and nothing in between,” Warikoo said.
For students like junior Tiara Anastacio, one of the coordinators for the Tufts College Access and Mentorship Initiative, the Tufts Tuition Pact represents an important step in making Tufts more accessible to a greater diversity of students. The initiative works with students from underrepresented backgrounds in the Boston area, helping them navigate the college process and learn about the scholarships and financial aid available to them.
“I’m very happy that now the incoming [first-years] and future generations of students have this pact. I do think it relieves a lot of the financial burden that is placed upon them,” Anastacio said. “A lot of times we do have students coming on a tour of Tufts, and we have conversations about, ‘What is the Tufts financial aid package? … What is the cost of Tufts?’ ... Now, we can include [the Tufts Tuition Pact].”
Anastacio emphasized that the Tufts Tuition Pact does not equate to ‘free college.’ Under the Tufts Tuition Pact, students whose family income is less than $60,000 will receive a financial aid package with no student loans. For families earning between $60,000 and $150,000, Tufts will cover additional expenses from student life on a sliding scale based on demonstrated financial need.
“I think there’s a misconception that tuition is all we pay for. And that’s not true,” Anastacio said. “While covering the tuition is great, it doesn’t cover everything, so I feel like it’s important to also educate students that there’s also room and board … and the health and wellness fee,” Anastacio said.
With the Tufts admissions team in the middle of recruitment season for its incoming first-year class, Duck said that news of the Tufts Tuition Pact has already begun to spread among prospective students.
“Everywhere we go, whether right here in metro Boston, or while visiting schools in Texas or South Carolina, families are telling us that they have heard about the Tufts Tuition Pact – and that it has contributed to their interest in Tufts. We will continue to promote the Pact during our in-person and virtual recruitment events this fall,” Duck wrote.
In Anastacio’s view, while the Tufts Tuition Pact signals progress in making Tufts admissions more equitable, much work remains to be done.
“It has taken Tufts years for this to happen. … This is not where it ends,” she said. “Accessibility in higher education [is] a lifelong process, and hopefully we can work towards more accessibility in higher education overall.”
