September 18, 2025
This expansion reflects the university’s effort to reduce financial barriers for talented students.
Starting in fall 2026, Emory University will eliminate undergraduate tuition for students whose families make $200,000 or less under a new initiative called Emory Advantage Plus.
The financial assistance program has existed at Emory since 2007, but has been expanded to benefit more incoming and current students. This expansion reflects the university’s effort to reduce financial barriers for talented students.
Under the new policy, both incoming and returning domestic undergraduates who qualify for need-based aid and meet the income requirement will pay zero tuition. Emory will maintain its long-standing pledge to meet 100% of demonstrated need for those students, ensuring aid covers the full gap between financial need and the cost of attendance. Over the next four years, the university plans to invest more than $1 billion in undergraduate financial aid.
“Emory Advantage Plus is more than just an expansion of a financial aid plan — it’s an expansion of opportunity, of dreams, and what’s possible at Emory,” Interim President Leah Ward Sears wrote in the announcement. “Together, we are opening doors wider than ever before so that brilliant, deserving students can call Emory and Georgia their home. The future has never looked brighter, and this is only just the beginning.”
The program also aims to widen access in Georgia. Emory states that many of its students already benefit from the state’s HOPE and Zell Miller Scholarships. Of current undergraduates, about 3,100 students, approximately 40% of the school’s population, receive the existing Emory Advantage.
Sixty percent of those students have their scholarship or grant completely cover tuition. Under the new plan, the full-tuition coverage rate for qualifying families will rise toward 80%.
Students seeking this free tuition will need to submit both the FAFSA and CSS Profile, with eligibility assessments including family income and typical assets, according to the university. Emory will provide further details later this year.
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