These are the 10 most coveted schools in the US for 2026

The Princeton Review’s 2026 College Hopes and Worries survey, published by CNBCfound that students named Harvard their top “dream college” after it lost the No. 1 spot to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last year. The survey asked respondents which school they would most want to attend if acceptance were guaranteed and cost were no obstacle.

Robert Franek, editor-in-chief of The Princeton Review, told CNBC the controversy has not dented Harvard’s brand.

The Trump administration sued the university in February, accusing it of failing to cooperate with a federal inquiry into its admissions practices, CNBC reported. Harvard’s acceptance rate has fallen below 4% for the Class of 2029, down from over 10% two decades ago.

But while prestige still pulls students toward elite schools, money is what keeps families up at night.

The survey of 9,446 applicants and parents found that sticker shock was the top source of application stress, cited by 37% of respondents. Another 35% named future debt as their biggest concern, according to CNBC.

The total cost of attendance at some elite private universities now approaches $100,000 a year once tuition, fees, housing, meals, books and other expenses are factored in.

U.S. college tuition has risen 914% since 1983, outpacing every other household expense, according to a J.P. Morgan Asset Management report published this month, CNBC reported.

The student top 10 was Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, Yale, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

But parents ranked the schools differently, putting MIT first and Harvard fourth, according to The Princeton Review‘s press release. Five Ivy League schools made the student list. Only two public universities did: Texas at Austin and Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Tricia Scarlata, head of education savings at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told CNBC that families are increasingly focused on which degrees deliver the strongest job prospects and earning power after graduation, especially as artificial intelligence reshapes the entry-level job market.

The shift is measurable. For the first time since 2014, the share of respondents who said college would be “worth it” dipped to 98%, down from 99% in every previous year the question was asked, according to The Princeton Review.

A survey by Indeed found that more than a third of all graduates now consider their degree a waste of money, with the figure rising to 51% among Gen Z, Fortune reported.