Princeton, NJ · Private · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for Princeton University
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$19,693
For a family like this, a SmartTuition plan saves less than $100 here.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Princeton University, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at Princeton University
| Full price | $95,289 |
| After grants, at your income | $5,378 |
66% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $66,054 on average.
At this income, 0 of New Jersey's other 21 colleges cost less after grants, and 21 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Princeton University's promise. Princeton University says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay. The conditions ↓
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At Princeton University, our scenarios for New Jersey households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $400 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →What Princeton University commits to
Princeton University says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay.
“At Princeton, we are committed to meeting 100 percent of the calculated need of each aid applicant based on an individual evaluation by a financial aid counselor.”
Princeton University Office of Financial Aid — verified 2026-07.
Conditions the school attaches to that commitment
- Your need is set by an individual review from a financial aid counselor, not by a fixed formula — so no published table predicts your award.
- Your award is recalculated every year: “It is our policy to meet every student’s full demonstrated need each year.”
- The commitment is not domestic-only. Of need-blind admission Princeton states: “This policy covers all admission applicants, including international students.”
These are the school’s own qualifiers. A commitment quoted without them is not the commitment they made.
Published guarantees you may qualify for
We do not assume you qualify for any of these, and our plans never bank on them. Check each against your own situation with the aid office.
Full cost of attendance covered: incomes up to $150,000
Household income up to $150,000. Covers tuition, housing, food, books.
“Most families with incomes up to $150,000 a year will now pay nothing for their student to attend Princeton, receiving aid to cover the total cost of attendance, including tuition, housing, food, books and personal expenses.”
No tuition: incomes up to $250,000
Household income up to $250,000. Covers tuition.
“Most undergraduate families with incomes up to $250,000 will pay no tuition.”
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what Princeton University reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit. For a family that lives in New Jersey, it also counts New Jersey's tax deduction for money you put through its 529 plan.
The $400 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Princeton University's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in New Jersey, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Princeton University at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Grants from the college
How many first-year students got a grant from Princeton University, and the average, are the Department of Education's figures for full-time students who started in 2023-24. They cover every income. The prices after grants already count these grants, so don't take them off again. The Department of Education's page for Princeton University →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Princeton University's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Princeton University. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Princeton University$5,378 a year
- Caldwell University$21,099 a year
- Saint Peter's University$22,133 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every New Jersey college →