The school will waive $76,000 in annual tuition over the two years of the flagship MBA program for about one-tenth of the intake — about 200 students in the current cohort of 2,000. “Harvard Business School should be a place where the most talented future leaders can realize their potential,” Dean Srikant Datar said in a statement. “We want to remove the financial barriers that stand in their way and ease the burden of debt so they can focus on becoming leaders who make a difference in the world.” Applicants will be judged on their gross income from the previous three years, assets, socio-economic background and levels of undergraduate debt. They will still have to cover living expenses and insurance, estimated at about $35,000 a year. Some US universities, particularly wealthier ones, have offered improved financial terms amid criticism of soaring costs and escalating student debt burdens. The shift to online teaching and tight restrictions on campus activities during the Covid-19 pandemic, while mental health concerns have grown, has also sparked fresh debate about the value for money universities provide. President Joe Biden promised reforms to the nation’s $1.6 trillion in student debt during his campaign, which so far has included some pauses in collecting payments. The Black Lives Matter movement has also refocused the debate on college access. Stephen Rogers, a former economics lecturer, retired from Harvard in 2019 after expressing his “deep disappointment” in the business school for failing to do more to address diversity. It has since released a racial equity action plan and appointed a chief diversity and inclusion officer, as well as other faculty who identify as black or African American. Dartmouth announced earlier this year that it would join the handful of US universities that offer “need-blind” admission to undergraduates from around the world, regardless of their ability to pay, in an effort to improve the diversity of their intake. The $80,000 annual tuition and residence fees will be waived for those deemed eligible.

However, some other US colleges have abandoned blind admissions policies in recent years, citing financial pressure. Harvard has the largest overall university and its business school, supported by alumni donations, provides an estimated annual financial aid budget of $45 million. HBS said about half of its students receive need-based scholarships, with annual support averaging $42,000 in 2021-22. Chad Losee, the business school’s managing director of MBA admissions, said, “It’s unusual for a graduate business school to have a need-based approach to financial aid. We think we have the biggest.” He said students understand the long-term value of an MBA, but “we want to help people really address concerns about the upfront cost.”