<p>Harvard has a right to that money if you want to go there. It may not be simple to change homes, but a debt owed is a debt owed. Harvard is going to give you precisely what you NEED. H is trying to give students who cannot possibly afford 50K a year a chance to go to the school, not run a charity.</p>
<p>Hotpiece:
Your parents made a good financial move from their viewpoint, but not from the viewpoint of paying for you to go to Harvard. One option is they can either choose to lower their income to 400K each year, by paying taxes, and be able to easily afford to send you to Harvard. The second option is that they save a hundred thousand a year and not be able to easily pay for Harvard. Taxes are a pain, but it's not Harvard's responsibility pick up the tab so that your parents can make 500K+ each year instead of
400K+ each year.</p>
<p>Monkey makes a very valid point. A college education is expensive, and at an income level of 500k+, it's difficult to believe that your parents didn't already have a good amount of money saved for your college years. A Harvard education isn't meant to be paid off with raw income. Harvard calculates the amount of money your family could absorb in loans over a 10 year period...</p>
<p>This may seem unfair, but at 40k, a family is in no position to save enough money to cover retirement and a college education. Suitable standards of living in most U.S. cities average around that 40k and don't leave much room to invest and save "extra" income. You mentioned that "most" people at Harvard receive financial aid. In fact, it's closer to 2/3 of Harvard students. But only 1/2 receive financial aid from Harvard college. </p>
<p>College may necessitate financial sacrifice with your family, but it's still within reach. Financial aid is meant to provide assistance to those with no other alternative. Just consider yourself lucky that your parents are financially successful and can pay for that expensive Harvard diploma.</p>
<p>Divanny is right. For the 2006-2007 school year, approximately 52% of Harvard College students receive direct need-based grants from Harvard. About 70% of the entire undergraduate population receive some sort of financial aid. That means several students here receive special, heavily subsidized loans (i.e., Federal Perkins Loan), which is a much better option than that offered by private banks.</p>
<p>I believe that assets are fair game in terms of financial aid. If your parents have $1 million in assets and make $40,000 a year, they can certainly afford to pay for college. A family that makes only $40,000 a year PERIOD - as Divanny says - cannot afford to do so, which is certainly correct.</p>
<p>I think people have a huge misconception when it comes to the middle income range. Middle income, as many people do believe, is NOT in the $100k range. In fact, the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative's threshold is now ABOVE the median income. </p>
<p>I do not like how families believe that there is a "strain" on the family when they can't take that yearly vacation or buy that third car for the family. That is NOT a strain. Working for the admissions office as a student rep, I've seen many kids here who had to WORK through high school to support their families. I've also seen kids here right now who are working 40 hours a week while maintaining a full courseload because they need the money to send back home.</p>
<p>Harvard is the most generous school out there. For the 2006-2007 school year, it is spending $127 million in financial aid, of that $90 million is direct grants. The other $37 million support the fantastic work-study opportunities, the fantastic deals on loans, etc.</p>
<p>about crazy admission stories. One story is about the dad who thought his $300K income was insufficient for paying his child's college expenses, so he flew his private plane out to the college to argue with the college financial aid office. That didn't help. </p>
<p>Yes, as xjayz correctly points out, the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative income level for especially low expected family contributions is somewhat ABOVE the median income level of all United States families. Family incomes above $100K are at a very high percentile level in the overall national income distribution.</p>
<p>to address Divanny, my parents had no money saved for any of us to go to college. we were really poor up until i was 10 yrs. old, so basically my parents never had the funds to start saving for college until recently.</p>
<p>Ahhhh, that link is hilarious!!! I should've juggled tiki torches during my interview...</p>
<p>Hotpiece:
I understand that paying for Harvard may mean significant cut-backs. Trust me, I understand. I know your parents may not have all the money saved up, etc. However, to be fair, it shouldn't be too difficult for your parents to absorb that debt over a 10 year period. As I said before, Harvard expects parents to have to take out loans. Financial Aid isn't mean to be a hand-out. Honestly, there are plenty of schools that offer merit aid. If the financial aspect was such a problem, you probably could've gotten significant merit aid at any number of excellent schools. I'm sorry if this seems rude, but instead of complaining about paying full price, you should be grateful that your parents are lucky enough to earn well. Enjoy your comfortable lifestyle, I'm sure your parents have earned it.</p>
<p>I went to school with kids who went to school every day before heading out to full-time, 60 hour a week jobs - sometimes in risky businesses like construction. One in particular was an illegal immigrant. He took chances which may have resulted in significant legal action because without him, his family wouldn't have had a chance to survive. That's need. </p>
<p>That's why they consider assets. Your parents have a house which is too expensive for a 500k income - kids that fall under HFAI could never imagine this sort of lifestyle. </p>
<p>Giving up a vacation won't ruin your life. Harvard's financial aid is great - for those who need it. Certainly, there are situations in which it is insufficient for a family. I trust, however, that your case is not one of those.</p>
<p>Harvard, on the other hand, gives out more financial aid, to more kids, in a greater average amount, to cover a greater fraction of tuition, than does Princeton - and every other school save Caltech. Princeton's low average debt figure (not much smaller than Harvard's really) is in part a function of who they admit. Princeton has the lowest fraction of the class qualifying for Pell grants (7%) of any elite - even lower that Harvard and Yale (10%) and Stanford (13%). If you admit a disproportionate number of wealthy people, it stands to reason they will have less need to borrow.</p>
<p>Divanny, i never complained about it. i just thought that the majority of harvard students received aid. and when i say majority, i was thinking that it meant everyone save the millionaires...</p>
<p>
[quote]
i just thought that the majority of harvard students received aid. and when i say majority, i was thinking that it meant everyone save the millionaires
[/quote]
Because the majority of students do not come from families that make $500K a year. At that income, it takes less than 10% to cover a year at Harvard. That shouldn't tax anyone to heavily. Most parents, even with financial aid, are giving up in excess of 20% of a far smaller income.</p>
<p>i know a lot of you think that i probably sound ridiculous thinking i would ever get financial aid. but since age 10, i've been surrounded by people who make more or just as much as my parents do. to be completely honest, i never thought that it was that much money until i found this board and people were striving to make 100K a year. someone mentioned earlier about a man with a 300K salary flying on his private jet to request financial aid. i had no idea that people with 300K salaries could afford private jets. i always assumed that only the millionaires could afford it, b/c anything under a million is just not that much.</p>
<p>my parents never really discussed money, so i never knew that 500K was so extraordinary. i guess i can attribute my naivete (or ignorance) to the suburban bubble that i have lived in for the 8 most formative years of my life. </p>
<p>so, if everyone could stop judging me and lecturing me on my lack of need of financial aid. i get it now. my parents make waaaaay too much for aid...</p>
<p>i know my parents make at least 100K a year (though definitely less than 500K). do many students whose parents make about that much recieve financial aid?</p>
<p>hotpiece101 - I understand your explanation of having grown up in a bubble. It must be quite some bubble! I think in order to avoid any really awkward situations with your roommate(s), whose families will probably make considerably less than yours, you might want to try to hunt down some statistics about income levels of Harvard students' families. Once you see where your family fits in there, it might give you a better perspective. Not judging you on not having the full perspective now, but it might be helpful to see what it is before you get to campus next month. </p>
<p>Also, I might add, there are many families who do not qualify for any FA at all and who make considerably less than yours. I mention this so that if you discover that your roommate is not getting FA either, you shouldn't assume that her family is as well off as yours. Many families who do not qualify for FA are taking out loans and making significant lifestyle adjustments in order to afford to send their kids to college. They may not appear as wealthy as you might think they would just because they do not qualify for financial aid. They're probably driving older cars, furnishing the dorm room on a tight budget, and not sending their kids to exotic locales over breaks. Of course, there will be some who don't qualify for FA who are better off than yours, but I suspect that is a small fraction of the student population.</p>
<p>nceph, thanks for the advice. but my parents have always raised me to know that money is just a small facet of life. and it's not like we are overly extravagant. it's not like we live in a mansion or have a maid or anything like that. in fact, i have always done chores. my parents no longer give me money (i have a job where all my spending money comes from). and like i said before, my parents taught me to never discuss money... so i don't really think the roommate situation will be awkward.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, hotpiece101. It's just when you said that your parents made "$500+ a year, but we just bought a new house that is far too expensive to make it easy for my parents to pay my harvard tuition," it sounded like a pretty nice house. You may not consider it a "mansion," but someone whose family makes a lot less than what your family does probably would. What you don't consider "overly extravagant" may be considered "overly extravagant" by someone less well off. You don't always need to discuss money for it to be an issue. Sometimes it's just the assumptions people make that cause the awkwardness.</p>