The Johns Hopkins University will no longer charge tuition to undergraduate students from families making under $200,000 a year, the school announced Thursday.

The university will also cover room and board and other living expenses for students whose families make under $100,000.

University President Ron Daniels announced the change in an email to the campus community, writing the new policy will recruit “the best and brightest students to Johns Hopkins irrespective of their financial wherewithal.”

The university is tapping funding sources already dedicated to financial aid, Daniels’ message said. More than 1,200 donors have given $240 million in financial aid at Johns Hopkins over the last several years, he wrote.

The change will go into effect for eligible current students this spring, and for incoming students next fall.

More than 85% of American households earn under $200,000 annually, according to U.S. census data. But getting into the elite Baltimore university is no easy feat: The undergraduate acceptance rate stands at 6%, according to U.S. News & World Report.

For the current academic year, undergraduate tuition is $66,670. But additional costs are significant — with living expenses, books and food, for example, the university estimates attendance to cost just under $92,000 annually.

Still, according to Daniels’ message, most families with incomes up to $250,000 will still qualify for “significant” financial aid, especially if they have multiple children in college at the same time.

“Trying to understand financial aid offers can be overwhelming,” said David Phillips, vice provost for admissions and financial aid at the university. “A big goal here is to simplify the process. We especially want to reach students and families from disadvantaged backgrounds, rural locations and small towns across America, who may not know that a Hopkins degree is within reach.”

This isn’t the first time Johns Hopkins, which has an endowment of $13 billion, has made a degree more accessible.

In 2018, alumnus Michael Bloomberg gave the university $1.8 billion to eliminate student loans from financial aid offers.

In the seven years since the businessman’s gift, Daniels wrote, the percentage of Pell Grant-eligible, or limited-income, Hopkins students rose from 15.4% to 24.1% — the highest level in the university’s history.

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine students whose families earn under $300,000 no longer have to pay tuition, thanks to a separate 2024 gift of $1 billion from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Other elite universes with large endowments have introduced similar policies in recent years.

Harvard University made headlines last March when it announced it would guarantee a free education for students from families making under $100,000, and free tuition for students from families making under $200,000.

At the University of Chicago, tuition is free for students who are the first in their family to attend college, as well as for those from families with incomes under $125,000 a year. At Rice University, students from families earning less than $75,000 a year receive a free education.

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