Financial Uncertainty and the 2025-26 Tuition Increase

On March 11, the President’s Office announced in an email that the Board of Trustees voted to set the comprehensive fee for the 2025-26 academic year at $93,090, which is a 4.75% increase over the 2024-25 fee. This fee consists of $73,140 for tuition, $10,410 for on-campus housing, $8,850 for meals, and a $690 student activities fee. Despite this increase, students were reassured that “If you qualify for financial aid, the college will continue to cover the difference between the cost of attendance and your calculated family contribution.”

While there’s generally a negative student response to increases in annual tuition, apprehension was particularly heightened this year due to the current political climate surrounding higher education.  

Recently, President Donald Trump's administration advanced proposals to expand a tax on college endowments. If passed, this increased tax could potentially jeopardize the ability of Amherst’s $3.55 billion endowment to support the college’s operating costs, including financial aid.

In light of the increased tuition and the current political climate, we went searching for more information on how tuition is calculated, how this process might be affected by political uncertainty, and what the future of Amherst’s financial aid might look like under this new administration.

How Tuition is Calculated

Chief Financial and Administrative Officer Mike Thomas explained that the tuition number is “determined through a balancing act” of a number of factors, including operational costs — like salaries, maintenance, student services, and other expenses — alongside the “overall economic environment,”  and revenue projections based on “anticipated enrollment, expected financial aid, endowment distribution, and other income sources.” Thomas said the college’s goal is to “ensure … financial stability while maintaining accessibility for students.”

Thomas explained that the tuition calculation process usually takes about two months, beginning in January and ending with approval from the board in late February or early March.

57% of college’s annual operating costs are covered by the endowment, with tuition and donations covering the rest. As a result, the endowment “is a crucial financial resource” critical in determining tuition rates.

In the 2024-25 academic year, 61% of the operating budget was allocated to the salaries of faculty and staff, 23% went to goods and services like food, utilities, and departmental projects, and 13% went to financial debt payments and facility-related projects.

According to Thomas, the 4.75% increase for next year’s tuition was deemed “the best way to responsibly manage the revenue and expenses for the upcoming fiscal year.”

Thomas highlighted that current events and possible economic trends, such as inflation, increasing interest rates, and decreasing government support, directly influence the college’s operational costs and revenue and therefore are included in calculating tuition. “Political uncertainty adds complexity to tuition planning,” said Thomas. “The college monitors policy changes and economic forecasts to adjust its financial planning accordingly.”

Financial Aid and the Need-Blind Policy

While the tuition increased for the 2025-26 academic year, the college nonetheless affirmed its commitment to meeting 100% of students’ demonstrated financial need.

“Every student is going to be evaluated for financial aid the same as they were before the tuition increase,” explained Dean of Financial Aid Gail W. Holt. “If a family's circumstances stay the same and their family contribution stays the same, then the only distinction with tuition going up is they get more grants. The reality is, it's the students who are not receiving financial aid that will feel the tuition increase the most.”

Currently, 56% of Amherst students receive financial aid. While the college currently plans to allocate around $80 million in financial aid for the upcoming academic year, Holt explained that there are no strict constraints on how much financial aid can be given to students. “Essentially, Amherst doesn’t have a budget … [We just consider] who our students are and calculate their needs using policies and procedures that are consistently applied. What we spend at the end of the day is what we spend.”

Further, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Matthew McGann clarified that the college is not constrained by a student’s ability to pay full tuition in the admissions process. “We are not trying to hit a particular revenue number. We don’t have a particular target about how many students that are full pay we should bring in, or how few students that need financial aid we should admit,” said McGann. “Rather, we are guided by the college's mission and values as we make each individual admission decision.”

However, McGann noted that the college would potentially consider changes to financial aid or admissions policies if the tuition revenue of an incoming class was lower than expected. Yet, there has never been a need for these kinds of changes during his seven years at the college: “things have been mostly stable.” said McGann.

Holt affirmed that “different decisions might have to be made” about the financial aid policy — namely its exclusion of student loans and enormous amounts of required student employment — if the endowment wasn’t spinning off as much as predicted or the college didn’t want to further increase tuition.

Amherst’s commitment to need-blind admissions, and lack of a strict tuition revenue quota, is precisely why the college is so dependent on its endowment for covering operational costs; an increased endowment tax could therefore pose a significant threat to the college’s functionality and core policies.

Uncertainty Looking Forward

With the Trump administration threatening to pull federal funding from universities and advancing an increased endowment tax, Amherst students may worry that these political changes will impact financial aid or tuition rates.

Holt affirmed that financial aid will likely not be affected by federal grants being frozen, as federal financial aid grants represent about 4% of the college's financial aid grant budget. Further, in a March 24 email the President's Office clarified that roughly 1% of the college's operating budget comes from federal grants.

However, McGann noted, “I am certainly concerned that if the college’s budget picture got more dire than it is now we would have to think more about our priorities and how we live that out in our budget, in the admission process, in the financial aid process.”

Holt mentioned that many other need-blind institutions are actually not need-blind for international, transfer, or waitlist students; while the college hopes to not have to change its need-blind policies in this way, she nonetheless acknowledged that “there’s always going to be choices that can be made.”

While unable to clearly predict how the college will respond to political changes, McGann nonetheless highlighted the college’s commitment to standing strong for its values of supporting a diverse student body. “We want to be a place that welcomes students, regardless of their financial background, who are excited about the kind of education that we have here … If something really impactful were to happen, I think we would come back to trying to figure out: how do we best live up to our values in challenging times?”

Correction: A previous version of this article misquoted Gail Holt as claiming that “roughly 1% of the college's operating budget comes from federal grants.”  In reality, the President's Office shared this statistic in a March 24 email. This article was updated on April 16 at 11:29 a.m.