Understanding that for many prospective students the greatest barriers to attending graduate school are financial, HBS is taking proactive steps to make the MBA Program more affordable. The School has held tuition flat for the past five years, and in August 2022 announced it would cover the full cost of tuition and course fees ($76,000) for those with the greatest financial need, approximately 10 percent of the student body. Additionally, HBS is increasing its financial support for students from middle-income backgrounds. These moves expand HBS’s efforts to make the MBA Program more accessible and assure prospective students that the School will support them on their educational journeys.

“We know that talent is much more evenly distributed than opportunity,” says Dean Srikant Datar. “HBS should be a place where the most promising future leaders can come to realize their potential. We want to remove the financial barriers that stand in their way and alleviate the burden of debt so they can focus on becoming leaders who make a difference in the world.”

HBS separates admissions and financial aid decisions. Admissions decisions are based on merit and—unusual among graduate business schools—financial aid is based on need. In 1910, four Visiting Committee members launched an $850 financial assistance fund. Since then, the MBA fellowship budget has grown to more than $41 million, representing income from more than 750 endowed fellowship funds and annual gifts to the HBS Fund. The average one-year scholarship, typically called a fellowship at HBS, is $43,000, and nearly half of all MBA students benefit from these outright scholarships or grants. Students pay for the rest of their expenses with savings, loans, and other resources.

Without financial assistance, many students may not be able to attend the School, where annual tuition, fees, housing, and living expenses total more than $110,000. “That number keeps some from even throwing their hat in the ring with an application,” says Jana Kierstead, executive director of the MBA and Doctoral Programs. To understand what keeps great potential students from applying for an MBA, the School commissioned a market research study and learned that the most salient barriers to applying are financial ones—such as fears about the cost of attendance or graduating with a large amount of debt.

“There are countless big problems that we have to solve in the world, from income inequality to climate change, and we need people from all backgrounds and experiences to contribute to the learning and the discussions that can help address these problems,” explains Kierstead.

In an effort to bring those voices into the classroom to enhance the learning for everyone, the School has introduced measures to advance socioeconomic inclusion (see box below). As one important example, HBS now considers socioeconomic background to gain a more holistic view of an individual’s financial circumstances. Previously, need was determined primarily by considering a student’s own income, assets, and undergraduate debt. While those still figure into the equation, they don’t tell an individual’s entire story.

“We have some students who come from low-income backgrounds who, after graduating from college, take jobs in high-paying industries. Considering only income, those students may look like they’re well off and can afford to pay for their education,” explains Kierstead. “But when you dig a little bit deeper, you understand that some of those students are paying for their sibling to go to college or helping their parents pay the rent.”

To get a better view of students’ situations, in 2020 the School introduced questions in the financial aid application related to their socioeconomic background, such as where they grew up, their housing situation, and how they paid for college. “This approach has enabled us to understand much more about what our students carry with them day in and day out and how we might support them,” she says.

As a result, HBS increased funding for 206 students in the Class of 2023, 41 of whom would not have received a fellowship had their circumstances not come to light. Financial aid for students from middle-income or working-class families also has increased. And through the work of the School’s Socioeconomic Inclusion Task Force and First-Generation Students Club (see related story), HBS aims to help students feel part of a supportive community. “We want them to immerse themselves in the HBS experience and feel a true sense of belonging in all aspects of campus life,” says Kierstead.

“The impact of the Fellowship Program on our students, who see how invested our alumni are in their success and the success of the School, cannot be overstated,” she adds. “A number of students have come up to me and said, ‘I want to do this for students when I’m an alum. How do I make that happen?’”

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