Harvard University is the No. 1 dream college: The Princeton Review
Students walk on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, November 19, 2025.
Reba Saldanha | Reuters
This year, Harvard University It once again captured the top spot among most desirable colleges after being beaten by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2025, according to a study. latest survey Number of students attending college by The Princeton Review.
Despite Harvard’s long battle with the government and resulting federal funding cuts, current college applicants have called the Ivy League institution the ultimate “dream” school.
Finally, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against Harvard last month, accusing the university of failing to comply with an investigation into the school’s admissions practices.
According to Robert Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review, the ongoing legal disputes have done little to damage Harvard’s reputation.
“The increased interest in Harvard, especially in the last year, certainly hasn’t diminished their brand,” he said.
Applications continued to skyrocket and acceptance rates neared the bottom. Harvard’s acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was less than 4%, compared to over 10% two decades ago. Data for the current admissions cycle is not yet available.
College tuition bill sticker shock
But despite getting into college, both students and their families said “sticker shock” was their biggest source of stress when it came to college, The Princeton Review found. More than 9,400 students and parents participated in the 2026 College Hopes and Concerns survey.
Indeed, the sticker price is daunting: The cost of education in some schools is now almost approaching That’s six figures a year when you factor in tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation and other expenses.
College tuition has risen 914% since 1983, outpacing all other household expenses, according to a separate report released this month by . JP Morgan Asset Management.
“The most common question I get from parents is when will growth slow down? History has proven to us that this is not the case,” said Tricia Scarlata, head of education savings at JP Morgan Asset Management.
“There will always be people who want to go to Ivys,” Scarlata said. “Our children all have dreams and it’s great to think big but we have to be realistic – the debt people are taking on is huge.”
To help cover the rising cost, many students are taking out loans to cover college costs, causing student loan balances to balloon.
According to findings from JP Morgan Asset Management, education debt increased by 343 percent from 2005 to 2025, and 97 percent of graduates with loans in the last 10 years said debt had caused them to postpone important goals in their lives.
While many of the nation’s most selective schools offer generous financial aid packages to ensure affordability for qualified students (some even cover all costs for low-income families), they are less likely to offer scholarships in the form of merit aid, said The Princeton Review’s Franek.
For example, Harvard has: no merit-based awardshowever, tuition is free for undergraduates with family income of $200,000 or less, according to the school.
“Most of the vines and near-ivy ones are so competitive that they don’t need to offer merit-based scholarships,” Franek said. “However, these schools meet 100% of the demonstrated financial needs of students and families.”
The Princeton Review found that for the majority of students and their families, financial aid is the most important factor in decisions about where to go to school and how to pay for it. The amount of aid offered is important, as is the distinction between grants, scholarships, work-study opportunities, and student loans.
“As costs and student debt continue to rise, it is more important than ever for families to make informed choices,” Scarlata said.
Especially as artificial intelligence reshapes the workforce and eliminates some entry-level opportunities for recent college graduates, “families are looking at what degree will give my child the most income and what degree will get them a job when they graduate,” Scarlata said.
Franek said that university-bound students and their families attach more importance to the value of public universities versus private universities. “There is still a focus on brand and reputation, but they are incredibly practical about compliance and ROI,” he said.
Several factors determine a college’s ROI—including how much financial aid is offered and how much students have to pay out of pocket, as well as choice of major, future earnings potential, and how long it takes to graduate, according to a 2025 study. Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Students and their families are “thinking more like consumers and investors than ever before,” Franek said. “College decisions were an emotional decision, now it has turned into a financial strategy.”
