Last November, the University of Pennsylvania announced that it would offer free tuition to students from families earning under $200,000. Soon after, several universities, including Harvard, MIT, the University of Texas, and Washington and Lee University, made similar commitments. In just the past month, Emory announced free tuition for families earning under $200,000, Tufts set the bar at $150,000, and Wake Forest University promised free tuition for North Carolina families earning under $200,000. Other schools, including our well-cited collaborator, Vanderbilt University, already offer comparable programs. 

Yet, as peers adopt bold initiatives to open their doors wider, WashU has not kept pace. The only free tuition initiative WashU guarantees based on family income is the WashU Pledge. 

As a first-generation, low-income (FGLI) student from St. Louis, I know the power of the WashU Pledge. I vividly remember the day my high school teacher played a video describing it in our class. The video explained that the WashU Pledge provides free undergraduate education to admitted students from Missouri and Southern Illinois whose families earn less than $75,000 per year. My teacher was elated because he knew that this could give many of us the chance to attend a prestigious university without incurring any debt. I shared his enthusiasm, now seeing a possible path for me to go to the school of my dreams, something I had never thought possible before. 

Today, I am a senior at WashU, and I have been fortunate enough to receive a full-ride scholarship from QuestBridge. Although I did not end up using the WashU Pledge, I am unsure where I would be today if it had not existed. The Pledge gave me hope and was a testament that a prestigious institution in my own backyard could be a place for me.

When applying to college, like many FGLI students, money was at the forefront of my mind. I had heard horror stories about the amount of debt people accrued from college and how it significantly influenced their livelihoods. Navigating the college search process on my own was already challenging, but knowing that debt could be the outcome made it even more difficult. 

The WashU Pledge relieved some of my fears, and it made me feel like WashU actually wanted students like me, that I would belong there. I have spoken to many friends from St. Louis who attend WashU and other universities, and they share similar sentiments. The commitment provided us with hope during the college process, allowing us to set some of our worries aside and focus on academics. But the commitment is losing its power. Other institutions, like the ones mentioned above, are doing more, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are attracted to their schools, not WashU.

This is evidenced by the fact that the Class of 2029 comprises 16% low-income students, down 20% from the previous year, and the number of Pell-eligible students decreased slightly, from 25% to 23%. Additionally, the Pledge has not kept pace with inflation, with $75,000 in October 2019 (when the pledge was announced) equivalent to approximately $95,500 in August 2025 (the most recent available data). Tuition costs have also steadily risen, with the 2019-20 tuition at $54,250 and the current school year’s tuition at $68,240, representing a nearly $14,000 difference. Chancellor Martin has also already stated that tuition is guaranteed to increase for the 2026-2027 academic year. 

The recent decline in Pell-eligible, low-income enrollment and the rise in tuition costs may appear modest, but it could signal a troubling trend. It would be a mistake to forget that not long ago, in 2014, The New York Times cited WashU as the least socioeconomically diverse elite university in the country. Only 6% of the student body were eligible for Pell Grants. We cannot afford to return to that reality. 

I understand that WashU is facing real challenges, including the effects of H.R. 1, a federal tax of $57 million on the endowment, and uncertainty surrounding future federal funding. However, the universities that have implemented and expanded income-based tuition guarantees are facing similar challenges. They have chosen to prioritize access, affordability, and opportunity. 

I am thankful for initiatives like the WashU Pledge and the adoption of need-blind admissions, but WashU must do more. Several of my friends and classmates have transferred due to rising costs, and prospective students are increasingly ranking other schools above WashU because of financial concerns. WashU is losing talent not just from lower economic backgrounds, but also those from the middle class. A middle-class student would prefer to attend a school offering free tuition for families earning under $150,000 rather than one with only a local promise of free tuition for families earning under $75,000. 

The WashU Pledge has changed my life and the lives of many people living in Missouri and Southern Illinois, and for that, I am forever grateful. Now, it is time for WashU to expand that promise to the rest of the world. Or at the very least, increase the threshold for local students, as some schools have done. WashU must follow the lead of peer institutions and expand its income-based tuition guarantees, or risk losing the very diversity that they have worked so hard to attain.