<p>I received my acceptance letter at the end of March, but some financial documents were missing so I did not receive an award letter at that time. Along with those documents, I sent a tearfelt appeal letter asking for a sufficient award and citing that CMU offered me a full ride, relieving my parents of the financial burden. The problem is, FAFSA overestimated my contribution by about $15000 &my financial situation has changed (included in the appeal letter). Does anyone know how generously Harvard will respond to my appeal (if at all)?? </p>
<p>Also, I have to make a decision in 1.5 weeks, so I hope they're prompt!</p>
<p>If you're hoping that Harvard will match a merit aid offer from any university, that's not going to happen.</p>
<p>If you're hoping that Harvard will give you whatever your documented financial need is (by Harvard's standards), that will happen. For most students who are accepted to Harvard, the need-based aid that they get from Harvard is less than merit aid they could have gotten at many other excellent colleges, which will go out of their way to use financial means to entice outstanding students, something that Harvard doesn't need to do to maintain the highest yield in the country.</p>
<p>Call the office. Ask if they're missing any documents and say you need it asap to make a decision. Something similar happened to me w/ Yale financial aid. They didn't give me my award letter until the day before the deadline (while I was at Harvard prefrosh). Needless to say, I turned Yale down (it also gave me far less money than Harvard).</p>
<p>my son got accepted at HPY, and finanicial aid is much better at Yand P. We faxed harvard the financial packages from both Y and P. It only took one day for H to adjust the aid to comparable level with Yale. Call them and good luck.</p>