Whitman College, a private liberal arts school in Washington, will cap what families pay toward tuition at 10% of their adjusted gross income starting in the 2026–27 academic year. There is no income ceiling — the cap applies to every admitted U.S. student who files the FAFSA.
Most affordability pledges making news lately are income cutoffs: free tuition if your family earns below $100,000 or $200,000. Whitman's model is a sliding scale tied to income, with the same rule for everyone and a number families can calculate before they apply.
How It Works
Here's how the Whitman 10% Promise works.
First, families should file the FAFSA. If admitted, Whitman covers any tuition above 10% of your family's AGI (Line 11 on Form 1040) with scholarships and grants.
The school uses parent AGI for dependent students and ignores assets like home equity, investment accounts, and businesses. No CSS Profile is required, though families can submit one, and Whitman will calculate a full financial aid package and offer whichever is better for the student (the 10% Promise or manually calculated aid package).
The promise holds for four years as long as the family keeps filing the FAFSA.
By The Numbers
Whitman's 2026–27 tuition is $68,692. Under the 10% Promise:
- A family with $60,000 AGI pays about $6,000 in tuition
- A family with $150,000 AGI pays about $15,000
- A family earning roughly $687,000 or more pays the full tuition sticker price
The cap covers tuition only. Total cost of attendance, including housing and food, runs about $86,620. Federal student loans and work-study can apply to the remaining costs.
Whitman says it meets 100% of demonstrated need and that 97% of students receive aid.
What's Different About Whitman Versus Other Colleges' Financial Aid Programs
Two things. First, no income ceiling — higher earners get a predictable cap, not a "you make too much" rejection.
Second, transparency: families can run the math themselves before applying instead of waiting on a financial aid formula. Whitman has a calculator where families can run the numbers.
The trade off is that, while Whitman is transparent, higher earning families may still find cheaper prices net of financial aid elsewhere.
Will Other Schools Follow?
Maybe, but slowly. The percentage-of-income framing is easier for families to grasp than tiered formulas (some of which are still black boxes), and the transparency trend is real.
But the wealthiest schools have leaned into clean cutoffs (Harvard, MIT, Yale, and Princeton now offer free tuition for families earning roughly $200,000 to $250,000) because those headlines market well.
Smaller colleges without large endowments may find a percentage cap easier to fund and explain than free-tuition promises they cannot sustain.
How This Connects
Whitman joins a wave of schools competing on price transparency. The College Investor has tracked the same shift, from a growing list of tuition-free colleges to Yale extending free tuition to families earning up to $200,000.
The common thread: schools are trying to tell families what college will actually cost before they apply, which is a net positive in the face of rising sticker prices.
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Editor: Colin Graves
Robert Farrington is the founder of The College Investor and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices on student loan debt and saving for college. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on student loans, 529 plans, financial aid programs, and saving and investing for young professionals.
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