Harvard University is the latest institution to announce that tuition will be free for undergraduates with family incomes of $200,000 or less beginning in the 2025-26 academic year. 

It joins a growing list of select private colleges — many in the ‘Ivy Plus‘ category — that have also recently increased their financial aid awards to attract top students wary of high college costs.

In November, the University of Pennsylvania said it would guarantee a financial aid package that covered tuition with grants and work-study for students from families that make up to $200,000. That same month, Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced it would also become tuition free for undergraduates with family incomes below $200,000.

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Additionally, last year other schools, such as Vanderbilt University and Dartmouth, expanded aid to include full-tuition scholarships to students of families below a certain income threshold. Even before then, Harvard, along with Duke University, Princeton University, Yale University and Northwestern University introduced “no-loan” policies, which meant they eliminated student loans altogether from their financial aid packages.

“Harvard’s announcement is long overdue given Princeton increased its threshold for 100% aid, including tuition, room and board, to families who earn less than $100,000 in 2023,” said Hafeez Lakhani, founder and president of Lakhani Coaching in New York.

Still, it is a “powerful” statement, he said — “it signals Harvard is not only matching Princeton but taking another step forward in the affordability arms race.”

Undergraduate tuition at Harvard College was more than $56,000 this year, but the total cost of attendance, including room and board, was nearly $83,000, according to the school. Harvard College is the undergraduate institution at the university.

In addition to its tuition-free offer, since 2023, the university has made schooling completely free for students from families with annual incomes under $85,000, covering tuition, food, housing, health insurance and travel costs. Now, that threshold will increase for families with incomes of $100,000 or less.

Currently, more than 50 colleges and universities are tuition-free for students with household incomes below certain thresholds, according to data from The Princeton Review.

Another nine, including College of the Ozarks and the U.S. Air Force Academy, charge no tuition at all, regardless of family income.

“Bravo to Harvard and other colleges offering free tuition to qualified applicants, as well as to all schools working to increase their financial aid awards,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s editor-in-chief. “Colleges making tuition free to eligible applicants are addressing that fear of college debt head-on.”

The rising cost of college and ballooning student loan balances have been growing problems nationwide.

Taking on too much debt is now the top worry among college-bound students, according to a recent survey by The Princeton Review.

Another report in 2022 found that most Americans, overall, see the benefits of higher education but are concerned about high tuition and student debt — 83% said college costs are prohibitive to low-income students. 

“Given the current climate — including Columbia losing $400 million in federal funding and Harvard being on the ‘watch list’ for similar cuts — it’s an incredibly generous move by Harvard to increase the student population who is eligible for 100% aid,” Lakhani said. “No doubt they are willing to dip into their endowment for this commitment to socioeconomic diversity.”

However, even though more colleges are eliminating education debt from the outset, students may still be on the hook for other expenses, such as room and board, as well as books and fees. There may also be a work-study requirement, depending on the school. 

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New leadership at the Social Security Administration tied to the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency has implemented swift changes.

Many experts say Americans will notice a difference when seeking help from the agency following staff cuts, regional office closures and new service policies.

The Social Security Administration is currently under the temporary leadership of acting commissioner Lee Dudek, who was assumed that role in February after acting commissioner Michelle King stepped down over DOGE privacy concerns. Dudek had previously publicly stated he had been placed on administrative leave for cooperating with DOGE, according to reports.

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As a temporary leader, Dudek does not have the obligation to answer to Congress.

“When you are a confirmed commissioner, you get called up to the Hill to testify on various issues that are operating for the agency,” Jason Fichtner, a former Social Security Administration executive, said during a National Academy of Social Insurance panel last week.

“It’s a check and balance that we currently don’t have,” Fichtner said.

As DOGE’s actions have upended the status quo at the Social Security Administration, former agency leaders, retirement experts and Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about its new policies.

Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress last week praised DOGE for increasing the agency’s efficiency since President Donald Trump took office.

The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request from CNBC for comment by press time.

The Trump administration has said the president “will always protect” Social Security and will not cut benefits.

“Any American receiving Social Security benefits will continue to receive them,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said via email Monday when asked about the NASI statement. “The sole mission of DOGE is to identify waste, fraud, and abuse only.”

Trump has nominated Frank Bisignano, chief executive of payments and financial technology company Fiserv, to serve as commissioner of the agency.

Bisignano’s Senate confirmation hearing is expected to take place in the coming weeks.

Former Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael Astrue, who led the agency from 2007 to 2013, said last week during a panel hosted by the National Academy of Social Insurance that while he doesn’t know Bisignano, “he can’t possibly be worse than what we have now.”

While the confirmation process has moved slowly in the past, it would be better to move swiftly and find a suitable leader for the agency, Astrue said.

“The process needs to move along quickly,” Astrue said.

When Bisignano does sit before the Senate, he will have to answer “a lot of questions in the confirmation process, beginning with, what did you know and when did you know it?” former Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley, who led the agency from 2023 to 2024, said during the NASI panel.

Senators may want to know whether Bisignano “approved and blessed” changes after his nomination such as cutting staff, eliminating offices and closing regional headquarters, O’Malley said.

Last week, Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon sent a letter to Bisignano emphasizing that he will be responsible for any benefit interruptions that may be prompted by sweeping changes at the agency. In the letter, they also included questions on his views on DOGE access to sensitive data, further staff cuts or other possible future plans for the agency.

Bisignano was not available for comment by press time.

A new law that President Joe Biden signed on Jan. 5 — the Social Security Fairness Act — has made it so more than 3.2 million individuals who are eligible for public pensions will receive increased Social Security checks.

In addition, affected beneficiaries also stand to receive payments dating back to January 2024.

The Social Security Administration said in January it would take 1,000 work hours to send those back payments, much of which had to be done manually on a case-by-case basis, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Smith said during a March 12 committee hearing.

However, that outlook has changed under Trump’s leadership, according to Smith.

“Seniors are already seeing the benefit of doing things differently,” Smith said.

The agency has already sent more than 71% of all back payments to affected beneficiaries, he said.

“The Trump administration’s embrace of automation and technology has made a night and day difference for those affected seniors,” Smith said.

“This is how the agency should work,” he said.

Wholesale egg prices have fallen significantly in recent weeks, a dynamic that may soon offer relief for consumers shell-shocked by record-high prices at the grocery store this year.

However, how quickly — and how much — retail prices will fall is unclear, experts said.

Wholesale prices dropped to $4.83 per dozen on Friday, a 44% decline from their peak of $8.58 per dozen on Feb. 28, according to Expana, which tracks agricultural commodity prices.

The pullback comes amid a reprieve from major bird flu outbreaks so far in March and weaker consumer demand, which have helped the nation’s egg supply to start recovering, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture market analysis on Friday.

Prices have “plunged,” said Karyn Rispoli, an egg market analyst and managing editor at Expana.

Market dynamics are also putting “extreme pressure” on wholesale prices to fall further, Rispoli wrote in an e-mail.

Consumers paid $5.90 for a dozen large grade A eggs, on average, in February, a record high, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Retail prices have blown past their prior record — $4.82 per dozen in January 2023 — and have nearly doubled from a year ago.

Prices had surged amid a deadly outbreak of bird flu in the U.S., which has killed millions of egg-laying chickens and crimped egg supply, according to agricultural economists and market experts. The U.S. Department of Justice also opened an antitrust investigation into the pricing and supply practices of major producers.

However, bird flu outbreaks seem to have tapered off in March, at least for now.

“Slowing [bird flu] outbreaks are leading to improved supply availability and wholesale market prices have responded with sharp declines over the past week,” the USDA wrote.

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Consumers, dissuaded by high prices and purchase restrictions imposed by many grocers, have also been buying fewer eggs, helping to ease supply shortfalls, Rispoli said.

Households also stockpiled eggs because they feared prices would keep climbing — a flashback of sorts to consumer behavior witnessed in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic — meaning there isn’t an immediate need for them to replenish supply, she added.

While there have been some early signs of easing prices, it’s unclear how rapidly — and to what extent — consumers may get more relief, experts said.

For one, there’s generally a lag of at least two to three weeks between a change in wholesale costs and subsequent retail pricing — meaning consumers are still largely “feeling the peak market when they go to buy eggs,” Rispoli said.

Plus, retailers ultimately choose “how closely they want to track wholesale prices,” she said.

Additionally, egg demand is likely to stay elevated as the Easter holiday approaches, Kevin Bergquist, an egg analyst at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, wrote in a March market update. (Easter is April 20 this year.)

“Egg prices will likely remain highly variable for the near future, but at a higher-than-usual level,” Bergquist wrote. “In the short term, we will likely see a continuation of high egg prices.”