Elite colleges say they’re expanding access — but the barriers for Black youth begin long before the Common App.
When Harvard University announced it would offer free tuition to students whose families earn less than $200,000 annually, the move was widely praised as a bold step toward equity in higher education. But while the policy may ease the burden for some, experts warn that for many Black students, it does little to address the real barriers keeping them out of Ivy League institutions.
Dr. Ivory Toldson, professor at Howard University and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Negro Education, says free tuition doesn’t solve the core problem.
“While Harvard’s tuition adjustment appears progressive,” Toldson says, “it fails Black students in critical ways.”
Those failures, he argues, are rooted in systemic inequality: racially segregated and underfunded public schools, biased academic tracking, and the steep costs associated with elite college readiness—like private test prep, extracurriculars, and application coaching—long before a student even applies.
The Harvard Halo — And What It Hides
There’s no question that waiving Harvard’s $57,000 annual tuition helps some families. But the impact is not as broad or transformative as it may seem.
For one, Harvard’s Black student enrollment is shrinking. The Class of 2028 is just 14% Black, down from 18% the previous year—a drop tied to the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to overturn affirmative action. Even that 14% doesn’t tell the whole story. It includes students from across the Black diaspora, including many who are first- or second-generation immigrants and may not have been raised in U.S. public schools.
That’s an important distinction, according to Toldson.
“Most Black students admitted to Harvard already met previous economic thresholds,” he says. “The barriers keeping African American students—particularly those descended from U.S. slavery—out of Harvard aren’t financial. They’re systemic.”
The Pipeline Problem
Across the U.S., Black students are disproportionately enrolled in segregated, underfunded schools. A 2020 analysis found that more than 40% attend schools where 90% or more of students are students of color. These schools typically have fewer resources, fewer advanced placement courses, and lower access to qualified teachers.
According to data from The Education Trust, schools in predominantly Black districts receive $2,200 less per student than those in majority-white districts. That funding gap translates to limited extracurriculars, outdated materials, and fewer chances to develop the kind of academic portfolios Ivy League schools expect.
Layered on top is a college counseling crisis. In many majority-Black schools, there are more than 400 students for every counselor—far exceeding the American School Counselor Association’s recommended 250:1 ratio. That means many Black students never receive the individualized guidance needed to navigate competitive college admissions.
Even in integrated schools, the problem persists. Studies show Black students are less likely to be recommended for AP and honors courses, further narrowing their chances of standing out in elite college admissions.
Tuition Doesn’t Erase the Wealth Gap
Free tuition might remove one price tag—but it doesn’t level the playing field. The larger, more insidious obstacle is wealth inequality.
A 2023 report by the Federal Reserve found the median white family holds 6.2 times more wealth than the median Black family. That wealth gap—$285,000 compared to $44,900—shapes everything from access to SAT tutoring and summer enrichment programs to the ability to afford unpaid internships or even campus visits.
And even when tuition is covered, students still face hidden costs. Room and board, fees, books, travel, and even laundry add up quickly. Textbooks alone can run $200 per class.
Toldson puts it plainly:
“A Black family earning $200,000 without generational assets cannot compete with a white family earning $175,000 that has inherited wealth. Nearly half of college families rely on extended kin to help cover costs—but due to centuries of wealth stripping, Black families are disproportionately excluded from that safety net.”
Surface-Level Fixes, Deep-Rooted Problems
Harvard’s silence on how this policy will specifically reach underrepresented Black students raises further concerns. Word In Black reached out to the university for comment. Harvard did not respond.
What’s clear, says Toldson, is that financial aid alone won’t fix the legacy of exclusion.
“Until elite institutions confront structural inequities, such surface-level reforms will perpetuate exclusion.”
Real equity, he argues, demands deeper change: investment in K–12 education, disruption of biased academic tracking, and efforts to close the racial wealth gap. Without these, free tuition may be little more than a hollow promise.