Penn Quaker Commitment

Clear costs. Predictable aid. Trusted access.

Higher education is one of the largest and most consequential investments families make, and Penn has long been a leader in reducing cost barriers through significant financial aid. Grounded in the belief that talent is broadly distributed and opportunity should be too, Penn has made substantial commitments to ensure that the most promising students can attend regardless of financial circumstances. These efforts have had a meaningful impact: ~15% of undergraduates attend at no cost, ~45% receive aid, and the average award is ~$68K per year. Penn’s Quaker Commitment builds on this foundation by addressing a related but distinct challenge—not just affordability itself, but how affordability is understood. The Penn Quaker Commitment initiative reflects the University’s commitment to making its comprehensive financial aid system even more transparent, understandable, and accessible to the students and families it is designed to support.

The Opportunity

For many prospective students, the published cost of Penn creates an immediate barrier, and without clear insight into what Penn might actually cost, some never fully engage or consider Penn a true possibility. Penn has an opportunity to strengthen access and expand its reach by making affordability easier to understand and navigate. By providing earlier and more accurate estimates of actual costs, financial aid, and expected outcomes—and by simplifying communications, clarifying key terms, and reducing friction throughout the process—Penn can help more prospective students and families engage with confidence.

Vision

Penn Quaker Commitment reimagines the financial aid experience to make affordability clearer, more predictable, and more transparent for families. By helping families understand the true cost of a Penn education earlier and more confidently, we will ensure that talented students see Penn as financially within reach.

Emerging Design

Penn is exploring a set of specific initiatives aligned to this vision—some underway, others under consideration—to improve the financial aid experience at Penn.

Model: Simplify to improve predictability and clarity 

  • Use simplified inputs to enable more reliable and earlier estimates for most families.
  • Evaluate opportunities to clarify the elements of our aid model that influence aid outcomes. 

Offer more support for more families 

  • Address structural drivers of uncertainty, including variability in outcomes and some reliance on loans. 
  • Consider targeted resource allocation or model adjustments to further reduce financial burdens on students and families.

Communication: Improve clarity and consistency 

  • Provide clear explanations of how aid is determined, including the role of income, assets, and family context—replacing ambiguous concepts with understandable inputs and examples. 
  • Introduce representative student profiles and scenarios to illustrate how aid works in practice. 
  • Introduce a redesigned calculator with AI-enabled features that provides earlier, more accurate estimates, along with supporting estimates and a potential ceiling for expected costs.

Existing Foundation

Penn has a strong foundation to build on:

  • Significant and sustained financial investment: Penn’s undergraduate financial aid budget now exceeds $340 million annually (more than 150% increase from 2008), reflecting nearly two decades of continued growth and prioritization of affordability. 
  • Demonstrated impact over time: For a typical aided student, annual net cost has declined materially over the past decade, processes have been streamlined, and reliance on loans has dropped significantly—from ~80% of aided students in 2004 to ~20% today. 
  • Broad reach across the student body: ~46% of undergraduate students receive financial aid, with a meaningful share attending at no cost; the average aid package now exceeds the cost of tuition at ~$68K annually. 
  • Expanded support for lower- and middle-income families: The Quaker Commitment, announced in November 2024 and in effect for the 2025–2026 academic year, guarantees full tuition for most families earning up to $200,000 and full cost of attendance for most families under $75,000, while no longer considering primary home equity in financial aid calculations. This commitment is expanding opportunity for many talented members of the Penn community. 
  • Comprehensive support for student success: Programs such as Penn First Plus ensure that highly aided students are supported not only financially, but also academically and socially throughout their Penn experience.

Leads

  • Whitney Soule, Vice Provost and Dean of Admissions
  • Mariana Valdes-Fauli, Associate Vice President of Student Registration and Financial Services