<p>Has anyone received their financial aid info yet? If so, how did you feel about t?</p>
<p>Yes, and I was shocked and appalled... I'm paying so little!</p>
<p>Isn't that a good thing?</p>
<p>** bump **</p>
<p>One daughter there and one on the way - they couldn't live at home for what it'll cost them to go to Harvard. D2 was also accepted at Yale - Yale's pricetag after aid is $22,000 / year higher than Harvard's. God bless the Harvard Financial Aid office!</p>
<p>Thanks gadad! Wow, sounds like you have LOTS of experience at Harvard. Are the students nice? I've heard that they can be a bit tough on each other and as another poster said "cut-throat"? I'm assuming since your D2 is going there that it is not bad. Any advise would be appreicated :)</p>
<p>Thanks so much</p>
<p>Harvard fin aid is awesome! best out of HYPSM :D</p>
<p>I originally hesitated to suggest that D1 apply there because it was (gulp!) Harvard. Surely everyone would be snobby, rich, elitist. Would they wonder what a small-town girl from the South thought she was doing there with "them?" Boy, were my stereotypes off-base. The students I've met there (and I've met quite a number now) are the most amazing, charming, open, witty, creative, "chill" (to use my Ds' expression) kids I know. Arrogance is probably rarer there than on most other campuses because the act of enrolling at H is, as one alum told me, the most humbling experience on the planet. Whatever you thought made you a big deal back home is just the norm there. Students do amazing, brilliant, world-class stuff and then act sheepish if you tell them how amazing they are. D1 has a group of friends the like of which she never knew at home. Guys, girls, they hang out together, sing together, cheer and celebrate for one another, have each other's back. She's in an a cappella singing group, and it's like an extended family. A guy asked her out for the first time last month, and a couple guys from the singing group sat down with her and said he'd be great to go out with. They'd checked him out, he was solid, nothing to be concerned about - he had their (unsolicited) vote of approval. </p>
<p>Ten to fifteen years ago, the Harvard Admissions staff came to the conclusion that human genius arises from all kinds of settings - humble as well as privileged - and that H had neglected to claim their share of that talent. So they adopted a new philosophy of actively seeking socio-economic diversity as well as racial and national diversity, that created something far closer to a meritocracy than a culture of privilege. The result is a microcosm of the best of the world's population. On Freshman Parents Weekend, I watched across the dining hall as a group of young women erupted in laughter, clearly fast friends enjoying each other's company. One was white, one or two were black, one looked southeast asian, one was wearing a burka. There's rampant underage drinking as there is on all campuses, but particularly rampant bingeing seems lower because the student body seems pretty intoxicated with the human creative process. Having the vast majority of the applicant pool so near the top means that there's not any meaningful difference among their academic credentials, so the adcoms then look within the mass of academically qualified for the most interesting, engaging, stunningly accomplished individuals they can find. The result, in my star-struck and admittedly biased opinion, is probably the most intense collection of diverse human brilliance on the planet. The students who live in that environment come to see that brilliance as the norm and aspire to live up to it.</p>
<p>OK, D1 was initially swayed to go there by the H name. But D2 visited D1, stayed overnight a couple times, and went out at night with the freshman dorm floor, the a cappella group, etc. She desperately wanted Harvard, but not for the name - she wanted the chance to have the same kind of peer group.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! you have no idea how much this means to me.</p>
<p>Was the info supposed to arrive with the admissions packet? because i didn't get anything... should i call them?</p>
<p>Maanarchy - Yes, call Fin Aid. They won't tell you an award over the phone, but they'll confirm whether the letter should have been sent with the acceptance packet, or if not, the reason for the delay.</p>
<p>H fin aid is so great that over the course of the year your parents will be saving more money from you being there than they have to pay for your tuition.</p>
<p>My D's financial aid package asking us pay 6k more than Yale's package. For my D, her financial aid like this: Yale = MIT > Priceton > Harvard.</p>
<p>gadad, Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us. it is really helpful. </p>
<p>S hasn't got the aid package yet, because we didn't send a form they require.</p>
<p>We were afraid that beacuse of financial aid, kid may not ne given admission. But Harvard aid was best. Harvard gives grant money. Remember that still Harvard (any other ivy) still expect a studen to contribute $5250 for work study and summer job. In our daugther case, she earned more than $30,000 in outside scholasrhips awards besides near Harvard full ride other than small efc and student contribution. Thus Harvard allowed her to buy a computer $2700 (I do not remember exact figure). So start applying for outside scholarships. Student has to pay taxes on any scholarships that pays besides for tution and other mandatory fee .But in the end this freemoney is worth it as student can focus on extra curricular activities rather than work study.</p>
<p>In addition, summer job are easily available with Harvard name where one can easily make 10-12 dollar per hour working in their specaility fields that one wants to pursue.</p>
<p>harvard's financial aid awarded to me was literally five times that of princeton and stanford. and then some.</p>
<p>My Harvard finaid was nearly double any other schools. With no loans. Amazing.</p>
<p>If I receive outside scholarships, will they take this out of my grant that I was given, or can I use it to cover the costs my parents will have to pay?</p>
<p>It will NOT reduce the costs your parents have to pay but rather what you as a student will be asked to contribute. Your parental contribution will stay the same no matter how much outside scholarships you bring in.</p>
<p>So is it pointless to keep getting more scholarships?</p>
<p>My student contribution was only $1500 and I have already won $2000 in scholarships. So if I win anymore scholarships, it will be deducted from my work study and grants given by Harvard?</p>
<p>Well, in your freshman year, it's $1,500 during the YEAR -- but you still have a summer expectation requirement (unless you are an international student). Contact the financial aid office for more information, they'd be able to give you the straight answer.</p>