Emory University is significantly expanding its financial aid program, making it one of the most generous in the country.
Starting next academic year, the school will be tuition-free for undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000, a move that could help hundreds of students.
In the Wednesday announcement, Interim President Leah Ward Sears acknowledged that for many students, high tuition can keep them from attending the school of their choice. The creation of the Emory Advantage Plus scholarship aims to ease that burden on families, as Emory’s undergraduate financial aid commitment will now exceed $1 billion over the next four years.
“We want great students to come here without regard to the cost. And we will do everything in our power to give them a great education without the burden of crushing debt,” said Sears.
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
Starting in fall 2026, the aid will be available to both incoming and returning students. Emory Advantage Plus is an expansion of Emory Advantage, which began in 2007 to support low-income students.
Currently, the school provides about $438.7 million annually in financial aid for its undergraduate, graduate and professional students.
Georgia’s largest private university, Emory is one of the most acclaimed — and expensive — schools in the South.
With many Americans questioning the value of a college degree, several prominent universities have recently upped their financial aid commitments.
Harvard University announced in March that students from families who make less than $200,000 would not pay tuition. The University of Pennsylvania did the same late last year. The universities of Virginia and North Carolina have also expanded their aid packages, as have Carnegie Mellon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke, Vanderbilt and the University of Texas system, among others.
Emory enrolls over 8,300 undergraduates. Roughly 1,050 are from Georgia, 95% of whom receive the HOPE or Zell Miller scholarships, merit-based awards funded by the Georgia Lottery.
More than a third of Emory’s undergraduates receive Emory Advantage. For 60% of those recipients, their scholarships are equal to or greater than the cost of tuition. With Emory Advantage Plus, that number will grow to 80%.
Full undergraduate tuition costs roughly $67,000 per year. Many students, however, don’t pay that full sticker price, as 52% of students receive some form of financial aid, according to the university.
Much of that financial aid is made possible through donations to the school’s $11.5 billion endowment. Following President Donald Trump signing the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in July, Emory is expecting to have to pay a significantly higher tax on that endowment. School officials say the increase will leave less money for financial aid.
Wednesday’s announcement comes two weeks after the university announced it would be getting rid of its diversity, equity and inclusion programs. That decision sparked backlash from some student government leaders who saw it as a way to appease the Trump administration, which has targeted DEI in the public and private sector and on college campuses.
Like many universities nationally – particularly large research institutions like Emory that rely on funding from the National Institutes of Health – the school has lost millions of dollars in federal grants since Trump took office. Those cuts, as well as the fear that more could come, have created an uncertain financial environment for school officials.
Nonetheless, Sears said the university wants more students to be able to afford Emory.
“Together we are opening doors wider than ever before so that brilliant, deserving students can call Emory and Georgia their home,” said Sears. “The future has never looked brighter, and this is only the beginning.”
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