By Donald Gilpin
Despite research funding cuts, budget cuts, and the threat of a federal tax on its endowment, Princeton University has announced an increase in financial aid for eligible students in its ongoing efforts to increase access to the University and the economic diversity of its student body.
The Class of 2029 first-year students, arriving later this week for orientation and preparing to start classes on September 3, includes approximately 25 percent lower-income students eligible for federal Pell Grants. That’s the largest contingent of Pell-eligible students in Princeton’s history, an increase from 21.7 percent last year.
“Through our increased investment in financial aid, we are making the transformative experience of a Princeton education more affordable for more students than ever, “ said Princeton University Provost Jennifer Rexford, as quoted in a Princeton University press release.
The increases in financial aid will ensure that most families with incomes of up to $150,000 per year will receive aid to cover the total cost of tuition plus housing, food, books, and personal expenses. Most families with incomes of up to $250,000 will pay no tuition. Even families with incomes up to and beyond $350,000, including those at higher income levels with more than one child in college, will receive some grant aid.
Sixty-nine percent of this year’s 1,409 first-year students qualify for financial aid, with the average aid package estimated at more than $80,000 and payouts from the endowment covering almost 70 percent of the undergraduate financial aid budget. The impact of proposed federal taxes on the University’s approximately $34 billion endowment is not known. University Media Relations declined to comment on budget cuts and the possibility of a significant endowment tax.
The press release notes, “In 2001, Princeton was the first university in the country to eliminate loans from its financial aid packages. The University meets students’ full financial need with grants that do not need to be repaid, making it possible for students to graduate without debt.” It goes on to state that recent financial aid enhancements “reflect Princeton’s national leadership in access and affordability.”
Total financial aid spending for Princeton University undergraduates in the 2025-26 school year is expected to be about $327 million, up $44 million from 2024-25 totals.
The first-year class includes students from 47 states and Washington, D.C. and international students from 65 countries. First-generation college students make up 16.7 percent of the class, 12.4 percent are children of alumni, 9.2 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino, 7.7 percent multiracial, 27.1 percent as Asian American, and 5 percent as Black or African American.
The University declined to comment on the drop in numbers of African American students in the entering class from 8.9 to 5 percent and the increase in Asian American students from 23.8 to 27.1 percent, but did note in the press release that “Princeton’s holistic admissions process carefully adheres to the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard College and University of North Carolina cases,” which in 2023 prohibited affirmative action in higher education.
The percentage of Class of 2029 first-year students who chose not to identify a race increased to 8.2 percent from 7.7 percent a year ago and from only 1.8 percent two years ago in the class of 2027.
In addition to the new first-year cohort for the 2025-26 school year, 32 transfer students will join the undergraduate community, 22 having served in the U.S. military, representing the Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy. Twenty-seven transfer students from community colleges in New Jersey and across the country will also be matriculating at Princeton University this fall.