<p>the house itself is really expensive, but it's not expensive because of the size. it's expensive because of the area in which they built it. and then it's customized. trust me, it's not a mansion. my other relatives have even said "it's really small for the price you're paying." although, this could just be jealousy considering that most of them are living at or below the poverty line.</p>
<p>hotpiece, I seem to recall you bragging a few months ago on these boards about a ridiculously expensive luxury SUV that you drive. I think it's a bit selfish of you to want financial aid. Maybe if you sold your car, you could more easily afford a few more years at Harvard. Just a thought.</p>
<p>My parents make well below half of what your parents make. We didn't qualify for aid either, and they've scrapped plans to buy new cars/house/trips to finance education for my sister and me, but we're still thankful we have the money to make it work and loans are an option for us. I think you just need to put things into perspective. There are people who can barely afford winter clothes to take to Harvard and you're complaining about your parents mortgage.</p>
<p>I also think you have an extremely unsatisfactory excuse for your attitude on this thread.</p>
<p>Wow. Just.</p>
<p>Wow.</p>
<p>Have you ever stepped out into an urban setting and looked at how the majority of Americans live? 43k is the U.S. median income. I'll stop ranting here because your comments are more than a little insensitive and offensive, but you really need to look outside the glass bubble.</p>
<p>Furthermore, to comment on your "jealousy" statement. Money doesn't make you better than anyone. That might come in handy when you step into the real world.</p>
<p>
<p>oh, and quite frankly, i don't care what you think.
[quote=Divanny] Have you ever stepped out into an urban setting and looked at how the majority of Americans live? 43k is the U.S. median income. I'll stop ranting here because your comments are more than a little insensitive and offensive, but you really need to look outside the glass bubble.</p>
<p>Furthermore, to comment on your "jealousy" statement. Money doesn't make you better than anyone. That might come in handy when you step into the real world.
i have actually never been in a poor urban setting (my parents have shielded me from that). and i had no idea that 43K was the median US income. like i already said, before i visited this website, i had no idea that 500K was a crapload of money. </p>
<p>secondly, you don't even know my family or my family situation. my relatives have always bad-talked my parents and it is mainly out of jealousy. my mom and dad were the first and only people in their families to go to college (coming out of the projects). being the oldest, they always encouraged their siblings to college. but, their siblings always thought that college was a wasteful investment. so when my parents struggled for the first 10 years of my life (paying off student loans and such), we were the poorest people in my entire extended family. and there my relatives were, with their "I told you so's." since all of them were making more money, they routinely told my parents how wasteful college was and how stupid they were for choosing to go. now, 8 years later, my parents have the most money in my entire extended family. however, my relatives refuse to acknowledge that they were right about the college thing. so oftentimes, whenever my parents or my siblings and I do anything great, my relatives demean it. when i got into harvard, the first thing my aunt and grandmother talked about was how i was going to that "stupid white preppy school." i didn't even get a "congratulations". or when my little sister won a prestigious art competition, my relatives said, "that's an ugly picture, how'd that win?" so, when we moved into the house, their "all that money for this" reaction was quite typical. and yes, it was caused by jealousy.</p>
<p>so thanks for prematurely assuming that i have a superiority complex.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I really think you do have a superiority complex.</p>
<p>My parents went through exactly the same thing. My father and his older brother were the only ones out of their many brothers and sisters who went to college. He spent years in the military and working multiple jobs to pay off his educational loans.</p>
<p>15 years ago, when he bought the house we currently live in, he specifically chose a house that wasn't too large or too expensive because he didn't want his siblings thinking he was using the house to flaunt his current salary.</p>
<p>And now he's more than willing to help out his relatives when they need financial support, whether they acknowledge the benefits of a college education or not.</p>
<p>This on top of the endless loans we've already taken out to help my grandmothers pay for their medicines who can't support themselves on social security alone, and my mother's medical costs from cancer treatments.</p>
<p>Sometimes it's better to take the higher moral road.</p>
<p>You have NO idea what other people go through, and I really think you're complaining that your meal isn't caviar when others just have crumbs.</p>
<p>
<p>Sometimes it's better to take the higher moral road.
once again, you don't know the entire situation. my parents routinely pay for their siblings expenses and for my grandmother's medical costs. i never said they didn't. as my dad always tells me, "to whom much is given, much is expected." so basically we help support our entire extended family without hesitation. even if they never say thank you and constantly make demeaning comments about our family. </p>
<p>and, my parents weren't using the house to flaunt their current salary. i already explained why they bought the house. and even if they bought it simply because they wanted it, they shouldn't have to live according to their siblings standards.</p>
<p>so, once again, thanks for prematurely judging the situation.</p>
<p>Everyone's cirumstances is different. I still don't like how they count the assets. It's not like we can sell our house and car and everything...</p>
<p>Hotpiece101, honestly, don't worry about it. You may not get FA from Harvard, but your family will likely not be put under tremendous strain by paying for college. If you are really that concerned, try to win a couple of scholarships or something.</p>
<p>$500,000+ is more than enough to cover your college bills, whether you pay for extended family and the house or not.</p>
<br>
<p>before they bought the house, the government was taking almost 1/5 of my parent's income in taxes.</p>
<br>
<p>If this is the case, and your household has $500k in earned income annually, then either your parents are breaking the law, or I humbly request the name of their accountant. People in the top tax bracket, which I recently joined, should be paying in the neighborhood of 1/3 of their income in taxes. If they were paying 1/5 WITHOUT a big mortgage break...then there's more to the story.</p>
<p>I strongly suspect that you don't have complete information.</p>
<p>Hanna, that 1/5 number was from a couple years ago. i just assumed it was the same amount of taxes. and quite truthfully, i really didn't understand it when my parents were explaining it to me.</p>
<p>when they told me that they couldn't afford for me to go to harvard, i basically asked why the hell they bought the house. my argument was the same as all of yours. but my parents told me that the house was for tax purposes.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how similar Princeton's Early Financial Aid Estimator is to Harvard's actual financial aid awards?</p>
<p>Byerly claims that Harvard is generally able to match or exceed Princeton's financial aid offers, and the cross-admit matriculation ratio would suggest that at least Harvard doesn't scare people off by its cost, as against Princeton. I wonder if Harvard will ever set up a financial aid estimator on its Web site.</p>
<p>Personal experience says Harvard is competitive against all the Ivies and the top LACS and privates.</p>
<p>
<p>Wow.</p>
<p>Have you ever stepped out into an urban setting and looked at how the majority of Americans live? 43k is the U.S. median income. I'll stop ranting here because your comments are more than a little insensitive and offensive, but you really need to look outside the glass bubble.</p>
<p>Furthermore, to comment on your "jealousy" statement. Money doesn't make you better than anyone. That might come in handy when you step into the real world
Divanny, it's you who I think is being a little rude and insensitive in this case. Why are you ostracizing someone who has already acknowledged that she has lived in a suburban bubble for the majority of her life and was not aware of the data regarding the demographics of income in this country??? You could have addressed the issue at hand to hotpiece in a much more amiable way but rather you chose to assert your own air of superiority by repeating the word "Wow" multiple times as if hotpiece had uttered something despicable and vile. </p>
<p>Save your anger at the upper middle class and the rich populations of the United States for someone who gives a damn Divanny. It's a common fact that there are a lot of impoverished individuals in this country as it is also a fairly agreeable fact that there are millions of diseased, starving children in Africa. One shouldn't have to consider how fortunate his/her situation is as compared to others hundreds/thousands of miles away when making each and every decision in life. Hotpiece has every right to question the amount of FA she receives from Harvard within the context of her life just as much as someone below the poverty line does.</p>
<p>Yeah, I admit I wasn't as amiable as I could've been. Hotpiece, I apologize for this...however, it isn't success I was aiming the critique towards.</p>
<p>Hotpiece mentioned that she was "really poor" until she was 10 years old. There are many incongruencies in her statements...she has family that lives below the poverty line and doesn't realize that the median income is 43k? I find it hard to put two and two together in this situation. Honestly, I don't think she has any right to question her lack of financial aid. I accept her lack of knowledge with regard to financial aid policy at Harvard - I'm glad she knows the truth now. </p>
<p>Most people in America take our success for granted. I don't expect anyone to take into account each starving person in Africa when deciding whether to buy a latte or not...However, I do think it's a personal responsibility to understand your country's demographics. Considering that they're easily available, and covered in most U.S. History classes, it's hard to understand how someone, even if they lived in a suburban bubble, was so ignorant to such essential facts.</p>
<p>Lastly, the wow was aimed towards what I thought was a particularly elitist remark concerning her family. Maybe I read it wrong. If so, I sincerely apologize, hotpiece. I'm very sorry.</p>
<p>Evil, try to keep your personal dislike towards me out of your argumentation. As a debater, I think you would do well to remember this. College is expensive for everyone. The difference is that for some families it's hard enough to simply scrounge up enough monety to pay for plane tickets and coats.</p>
<p>
[quote]
she has family that lives below the poverty line and doesn't realize that the median income is 43k?
[/quote]
Divanny, I know my family members are poor and struggling to make ends meet, but i don't know their exact incomes or even their range of incomes. "below the poverty line" is a term i have heard my parents use to describe them.</p>
<p>For a family of 4, the government's poverty line is set at $20k in 2006. </p>
<p><a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/06poverty.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/06poverty.shtml</a></p>
<p>In the end, if Harvard did not give you any FA, they are not going to budge. Period. It is fair and an honest process. In fact, many parents pull some strings on their tax forms, but Harvard turns a blind eye to it and just gives financial aid to those kids as well.</p>
<p>i realize that, xjayz. considering that it is past Aug. 1, my parents have already paid the fall term tuition.</p>