The changes build on donations over the years, including the multibillion-dollar gifts from former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Johns Hopkins University will eliminate tuition for undergraduate students from families earning less than $200,000 a year, starting next year, university officials said.
In a statement on Nov. 13, the Baltimore-based university announced that students from families earning up to $100,000 per year will receive additional financial support to cover all other fees and living expenses, allowing them to attend without any parental contribution.
“This means students from a majority of American families, including middle-class families earning above the national median household income of $87,730, can attend Hopkins at no expense,” university officials said, citing U.S. Census data.
Furthermore, families earning up to $250,000 will continue to qualify for significant aid, and even those with annual incomes exceeding $250,000 may still qualify, especially when they have multiple children in college simultaneously, according to the announcement.
The new financial aid levels will apply to qualified students currently enrolled in the spring 2026 semester, as well as to incoming students for the 2026–2027 academic year.
In a message to the campus community, Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels emphasized that the money needed for the changes will be entirely drawn from funds already dedicated to financial aid.
According to Daniels, Johns Hopkins’ financial aid capacity has grown substantially since Michael Bloomberg, an alumnus and former mayor of New York City, donated $1.8 billion to the university in 2018—the largest gift ever made to an American institution of higher education at the time.
Since then, the share of Hopkins undergraduates from lower-income households has risen from 15.4 percent in 2018 to 24.1 percent in 2025, the highest in the university’s history.
“Our financial aid investment has continued to grow, inspired by Mayor Bloomberg’s transformative gift, with generous contributions by more than 1,200 donors who have given $240 million for financial aid at Hopkins over the last several years,” Daniels said.
“We are in their collective debt.”
By Bill Pan
