Princeton vs Harvard: Nearly Identical Odds, Very Different Prices

Almost nobody should choose between these two on academic strength, and that is the right instinct. What families actually wrestle with is quieter: Princeton is small, residential and close to obsessive about its undergraduates, while Harvard is a vast research university where the college is one part of something larger. And then there is the money, where the gap is wider than anyone expects.

Princeton admits 4.4% of applicants and Harvard 4.2% — a gap small enough to ignore. What is not small is the price. Princeton’s average net price after aid is $6,128 against Harvard’s $19,066, and Princeton is cheaper in every income band the federal government measures.

By the Admissioned team· Data: Common Data Set 2025-2026 · College Scorecard

At a glance

The decision matrix

Both admit about one applicant in twenty-three, meet 100% of demonstrated need, graduate 97% of their students and place them in the top 2% of American colleges for earnings. Choosing between them on selectivity or prestige is not a real decision. These are.

Admissions: both early, and both non-binding

Neither school runs Early Decision. Both use a restrictive form of Early Action, which means an early application does not commit you to attend — a meaningful advantage over the Ivies that bind you, and a reason applicants often apply early to one of these two rather than to a binding school.

Princeton drew 42,303 applications and admitted 1,868. Harvard drew 47,893 and admitted 2,003. The revealing number is what happens next: 83.6% of Harvard’s admitted students enrol, against 75.4% of Princeton’s. When students hold both offers, Harvard usually wins.

Each school’s own rating of how heavily it weighs each factor, from its Common Data Set filing. Only the 5 factors they rate differently are shown — they agree on the other 13.

One row in that table matters more than the rest. Princeton rates class rank very important; Harvard does not consider it at all. If you come from a school that ranks its students and you sit near the top, that fact is worth something at Princeton and literally nothing at Harvard. Princeton also weighs interviews, first-generation status and alumni relations one step higher.

Test ranges sit slightly apart: Princeton’s middle 50% runs 740–780 on reading and 760–800 on maths, Harvard’s 720–770 and 730–790. Among enrolled first-years, 79% at Harvard submitted an SAT score against 60% at Princeton — shares that describe the class, not what either school requires of applicants.

Cost: Princeton is the cheaper school at every income level

Princeton’s average net price after grants is $6,128. That is not merely lower than Harvard’s $19,066 — it is cheaper than 96.8% of all US colleges, which is an extraordinary thing to be true of the most expensive-sounding school in the country.

The pattern holds in every band. A family earning under $30,000 pays $41 a year at Princeton and $8,697 at Harvard. From $48,000 to $75,000 it is $1,217 against $2,091. From $75,000 to $110,000, $4,478 against $9,941. Above $110,000 the gap is widest of all: $36,094 at Princeton against $53,337 at Harvard, a difference of $17,243 a year.

Average first-year grants tell the same story — $79,320 at Princeton against $72,749 at Harvard — and so does what graduates owe. 11% of Princeton students borrow anything at all, against 16% at Harvard, and median debt at graduation is $10,320 against $14,000.

Published sticker prices are not directly comparable here: Princeton itemises only $314 in fees against Harvard’s $5,476, because the two schools draw the line between tuition and fees differently. Net price after aid is the figure that survives that difference, which is why this section uses it.

Teaching and campus

Princeton runs an 8:1 student–faculty ratio to Harvard’s 11:1, across 5,916 undergraduates against 6,738. Small-class share is nearly identical — 72% of Princeton classes have under 20 students, against 74.2% at Harvard — so the ratio gap shows up in access to faculty rather than in seminar size.

Princeton spends $73,220 per student on instruction to Harvard’s $51,780, despite an endowment of $33,380,863,000 against Harvard’s $50,748,594,000. Harvard holds half again as much money and spends noticeably less of it per undergraduate. Both house essentially their entire undergraduate body on campus.

Outcomes

Ten years after enrolling, the median Princeton student earns $110,066 and the median Harvard student $101,817. Princeton’s edge of $8,249 puts it in the top 1% of American colleges.

Bar length is the share of US colleges each school beats on that measure; the tick marks the national median. Price and debt are inverted, so a longer bar is always the better outcome. Coverage varies by measure — each line states how many colleges report it. Source: College Scorecard.

Harvard takes the mobility measure back. Students arriving from the lowest-income third of families are earning a mean $135,000 at Harvard and $127,400 at Princeton ten years after entry — the strongest single outcome in American higher education, and the best argument for applying to either regardless of the sticker price.

The same two schools, eight ways

This is the scatter view from FitFinder with just these two schools loaded. It opens on “Borrowed Time” — median debt against median earnings. For this pair, “Paying for the Podium” is the one to switch to: it puts Princeton’s net price next to its graduation rate and shows how far left of the field it sits.

Go deeper on each school

• Princeton: the full profile
• Harvard: the full profile

Frequently asked questions