Elizabethtown College’s tuition will be increasing by 3.25% for the 2026-2027 academic year. That would amount to a difference of more than $1,000 from the current annual tuition price of $38,370. This increase was announced in an email set to students on Feb. 25 by President Betty Rider outlining the actions taken by a voting session of the Board of Trustees.
“This adjustment accounts for rising operational costs to maintain the standard Etown educational and student life experience,” Rider wrote in the email.
Since the conclusion of the 2019-2020 academic year, Elizabethtown College’s tuition has increased by roughly 3% for each successive year, according to the website College Tuition Compare. The lone exception was the increase for 2021-2022 which was almost 5%. The most recent increase between 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 was three percent.
Even with these steady increases, tuition is still less than it was in 2018-2019 when the College decided to cut its $46,940 tuition by more than 30%in a bid to attract more students who otherwise would have been put off by sticker shock. At the time, college administrators explained that their intention was to bring down the initial cost of tuition to be more in line with the actual price paid by most students when given financial aid and scholarships from the College.
According to the most recent data compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics , 98% of Etown students receive a form of financial aid including scholarships and loans. In 2023, the College reported that half of student tuition costs were covered by merit and need-based scholarships and grants and its corresponding budgetary earmark for student financial aid was $20 million. This would represent half of the $40 million in total financial aid received by students from internal and external sources.
U.S. News & World Report, which has for decades published rankings for various metrics of higher educational institutions, ranked Elizabethtown College 27th in best value for colleges and universities in the northeastern United States and fifth in Pennsylvania. The best value rankings are based on academic quality versus the cost of an out-of-state student attending with an average amount of financial aid. The average amount of aid received by an Elizabethtown student is pegged at a little more than $30,000. Total costs including tuition, housing and food will be $54,910 under the new tuition model.
Elizabethtown College is not alone in raising tuition for the next academic year and the 3.25% increase is in line with decisions by other colleges and universities across the country whose increases are also hovering around 3%.
The College’s Senior Leadership Team, which is composed of Rider and the College’s six vice presidents, gave the following statement to The Etownian in response to a request for comment:
“We recognize that any tuition increase represents a real financial consideration for students and their families, and we approach these decisions carefully throughout the process. The 3.25% increase for the coming academic year is lower than last year’s adjustment and reflects the College’s effort to balance affordability with the rising costs facing higher education institutions. Our priority remains providing the high-quality academic and vibrant student experience that defines Elizabethtown College while continuing to invest in financial aid to help ensure an Etown education remains accessible for our current and future students and families.”
The College expects to continue minimal tuition increases to keep pace with external factors such as inflation. Projections on its website expect the need to raise tuition by three percent each year for the next four academic years with tuition reaching $44,481 by 2030-2031. Other costs are also expected to increase incrementally.
