The Mount announces lowered tuition for eligible in-state students

By SARAH RUBINSTEIN

srubinstein@newspost.com

Starting in the fall of next year, eligible in-state students can attend Mount St. Mary’s University with annual tuition costs no greater than $12,500.

For the 2026-2027 school year, undergraduate tuition is $50,000 annually.

The Mount, a private Catholic university in Emmitsburg, announced in late September that it would launch ”Maryland Tuition Promise” to make the costs of attending a private university comparable to a public institution.

Eligible students will receive a financial aid package that combines merit scholarships and other institutional awards to reduce out-of-pocket tuition costs to $12,500 or less, according to a press release.

The program will begin with first-year students enrolling in the fall of 2027.

Students have until Nov. 1 for an early action deadline and Dec. 1 for the second early action deadline to apply.

To qualify for the program, students must:

• Be a Maryland resident

• Live on campus as a residential student at Mount St. Mary’s University

• Earn a high school GPA of 3.0 or higher

• Have a total family income of $125,000 or less, based on 2025 federal income taxes, including taxable and untaxable income

• File the 2027–28 Free Application for Federal Student Aid by Dec. 1 and complete the Mount application process.

Josh Karlheim, executive director of admissions for the college, said the cost chosen for the program makes the college “very comparable” to other state public universities.

For the University of Maryland, tuition costs $12,835 for a year for in-state undergraduate students in the 2026-2027 school year, according to its website.

Under the same criteria, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, tuition costs $14,101, according to its website.

And at Towson University, tuition costs $12,690, according to its website.

Karlheim said the program will be renewable for four years as long as the student continues to meet the eligibility criteria, the school’s GPA standards and files for FAFSA no later than the March 1 financial aid renewal deadline each year.

Annual tuition increases will be no more than $1,500 per year as long as requirements to maintain the Maryland Tuition Promise are met, he said.

The Mount doesn’t have a specific target number of students it plans to accept, he said, and it will simply “allow the admission and financial aid process to unfold.”

‘We want to make the amount accessible to as many qualified Maryland students as possible who meet the program’s criteria, and we’ll be watching the response closely throughout the first admission cycle, and it’ll give us important information as we evaluate the strength of the program for future classes,” Karlheim said.

He said there isn’t a specific length for the program, and it will depend on the overall financial sustainability of it and if it accomplishes its goal. He said the goal is to make it a part of the Mount’s “long-term commitment to Maryland families.”

Karlheim said the college created the program to “change the conversation” around a private higher education being unaffordable and make the opportunity more accessible to new students.

The new program is also consistent with the school’s Catholic mission, he said.

“The Mount has always been providing students with the opportunity to develop their God-given gifts and preparing them for the lives of leadership and service,” he said. “We don’t want the perceived cost to prevent talented students from considering them out.”