Swarthmore College

For 2021-2022, Swarthmore's charges — including tuition, room, board, and a student activity fee — amount to $73,206. The average aid award for the Class of 2025 was $56,923. Swarthmore is a cash-free campus, and the annual activity fee covers not only the usual student services — library and laboratory fees, for example — but also everything from digital printing and laundry to sporting events, campus movie screenings, and music and dance performances. Additionally, Swarthmore's Textbook Affordability Program provides every Swarthmore student with a $700 annual credit that can be used on required course materials at the Swarthmore Campus & Community Store.

Swarthmore's commitment to financial aid and access is at the core of our educational mission. We understand that students come to the College from a variety of economic backgrounds, and we strive to make it possible for all admitted students to attend Swarthmore, regardless of their ability to pay. We meet 100% of the determined need of all admitted students through loan-free aid decisions.

In 2021, nearly 60% of the student body received need-based Swarthmore scholarship aid from an overall financial aid budget of more than $46 million. Our financial aid offers consist of grants (which do not need to be repaid) and the expectation that students will work in a part-time college job. Although Swarthmore financial aid awards are loan-free, some families choose to borrow through a private loan to pay a portion of the educational expenses.

Swarthmore also practices "need-blind" admissions, which means the decisions about your admission to Swarthmore and your financial aid eligibility are made independently if you are a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or undocumented/DACA student graduating from a U.S. high school.

At first, Swarthmore's 425-acre arboretum campus situated 11 miles outside of Philadelphia will enchant you with its mix of world-renowned gardens and untamed forests. But soon you may find yourself drawn in deeper. Perhaps you'll perform biology fieldwork in the Crum Woods for your animal communication seminar, or conduct research for your environmental economics course on how Swarthmore's system of green roofs reduces energy costs. Maybe you'll watch your friends rehearse a theater performance in the beautiful Scott Outdoor Amphitheater, spend a Sunday napping on the sun-drenched lawn of Parrish Beach, or clear your head with a trail run through the woods. Our campus is a place that ultimately helps define your inner landscape.

Swarthmore provides a dynamic collection of spaces to explore and develop your academic and extracurricular passions. These include an array of art spaces and professional theater facilities for students to enjoy visiting performers or stage their own productions. You can attend anart opening at the Kitao Student Gallery or take a workshop at the Women's Resource Center. The Intercultural Center provides programs and services that support the personal and intellectual development of Asian American, Latinx, multiracial, Native American, LGBTQ+, low-income, international, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities. The Black Cultural Center's goal is to support a thriving and inclusive Black campus community, and it serves as a space for a range of student-centered programming and activities. The Matchbox fitness center and other athletic facilities like the Mullan Tennis Center and Costonis '92 Golf Center offer a multifaceted, modern approach to wellness, recreation, and community, along with our swimming facility and robust resources for our 22 Division III teams. Regardless of your major, you can learn a new dialect through immersion in the Language Center, make sense of the universe in the Peter Van de Kamp Observatory, or connect your studies to your communities beyond campus through the Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility. Singer Hall, which brings together the Biology, Engineering, and Psychology departments, serves as a model of environmentally intelligent construction that will help the College achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.

Whether students are teaming up to design a prototype in the state-of-the-art MakerSpace, sharing conversations in a cozy eight-person house or a lively 200-person dorm, meeting up over locally grown food in Sharples Dining Hall, or taking a study break in one of several campus coffee bars, the abundance of campus resources permeates all aspects of life at Swarthmore.

The Tri-College Consortium, which connects us with Bryn Mawr and Haverford colleges, allows you to expand your social capital and academic opportunities across three stellar institutions, while the Tri-Co Philly Program offers curricular and co-curricular activities in Philadelphia. Students also have the option to enroll in one elective per semester at the University of Pennsylvania. Students also benefit from Swarthmore's early acceptance program with Thomas Jefferson University's Sidney Kimmel Medical College Scholars Program.

Swarthmore encourages students to spend a semester or year studying abroad to enhance their degree programs. With 300+ approved programs, you can choose either a College program coordinated by Swarthmore faculty members, a direct-enrollment program at a university abroad, or one of a broad array of other study-abroad programs.

Beyond study abroad, Swarthmore's externship program allows you to explore a field of interest by shadowing alumni in their professional environment for a week between semesters. This experiential program matches 200 students with 300+ alumni sponsors — leaders of industries and agents of change invested in their alma mater and the success of its students.

The Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility also creates opportunities around the globe, with engaged scholarship opportunities like internships with social justice organizations, research with faculty members, and projects with community partners. These beyond-the-classroom experiences can be a crucial bridge between your academic pursuits and the people and issues you care about.

The town of Swarthmore itself, known as "The Ville," offers a variety of local shops, restaurants, and gathering spaces immediately outside campus and can be accessed by foot or the College's free shuttle service. If you want to venture further, the SEPTA regional rail station at the edge of campus whisks you away to Philadelphia in less than 30 minutes, and New York City and Washington, D.C., are within a 90-minute train ride.