Whitman College announced a tuition-pricing overhaul guaranteeing that eligible students will pay no more than 10% of family earnings toward tuition for up to four years. The “10% Promise” is scheduled to apply to first-year and transfer students enrolling in fall 2027 and includes an online calculator to estimate scholarship amounts using federal tax information. The policy is designed to remove what the college describes as “secret formulas” and to address sticker-price and net-price uncertainty that can drive debt burdens. Whitman’s approach targets tuition directly; families would still manage living costs such as housing and meals. The announcement lands as institutions face pressure to demonstrate affordability while maintaining academic quality and budgeting stability. As more colleges test income-linked pricing, peer institutions will likely evaluate impacts on enrollment yield, aid complexity, and long-term discounting models. Higher education leaders may treat Whitman’s guarantee as a case study in simplifying cost transparency while managing the tradeoffs between admissions access and institutional revenue predictability.