<p>I've read seemingly contradicting things from Harvard's website, literature they've sent me, and posts here on CC. I was once told (and had it backed it up by Harvard's site) that for families with incomes between $150k and $200k, there's some "sliding scale" by which they determine what percentage of a family's income (I've seen between 10% and 20%) they'll be required to pay. However, in literature the College sent me, it said something along the lines of "families making over $150k a year can still qualify for aid if they have special circumstances..." which gave me the impression that unless you have some "special" financial burden (second child in college, for example), you can't qualify for aid if you have an income that high. That was strange to me because I've read something completely different and Princeton on average gives 75% of tuition aid to families in the income bracket from $150-175k. So, is the literature correct, and I won't qualify for aid since I don't think my family has any special circumstances?</p>
<p>See: [The</a> College redistributes aid among lower- and higher-income undergraduates | Harvard Magazine](<a href=“http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/09/bending-the-curve-on-financial-aid]The”>http://harvardmagazine.com/2011/09/bending-the-curve-on-financial-aid)</p>
<p>“THE COLLEGE today introduced changes in undergraduate aid—effective next fall, for the entering class of 2016—that reduce support for higher-income families and increase the income level at which students are able to attend Harvard at no cost.”</p>
<p>“Families with incomes from $65,000 to $150,000 will pay from 0 to 10 percent of income toward the cost of attendance, depending on their circumstances—as at present—but those enrolling with the class of 2016 and subsequent classes from families with incomes from $150,000 to $180,000 “will be asked to pay slightly more than 10 percent of income,” according to the College’s news release. Currently, the upper bound is $180,000 (a level that remains in effect for students enrolled this year), so this change represents an increase in the cost of attending Harvard for future students whose family income exceeds $150,000. As the release notes, “Families at all income levels with significant assets will pay more, as under current policy.” The new formula, according to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), means that families with incomes between $150,000 and $180,000 will now be asked to pay between 10 percent and 16.5 percent of income, depending on their assets (potentially raising the annual cost for the families at the top of this range from $18,000 to $29,700). According to the financial-aid website, slightly fewer than 600 families of students currently receiving scholarship aid have incomes between $140,000 and $180,000 (the figures are presented in $20,000 bands).”</p>
<p>“Thus, the College is, to a modest degree, redirecting its scholarship budget (a reported $166 million this academic year) from upper- to lower-income families.”</p>
<p>gibby you are seriously a life-saver haha thank you.</p>
<p>^^ BTW: Harvard’s upper limit for aid was never $200K. Harvard raised their upper limit to $180K back in 2007-2008. </p>
<p>Based upon the above article, I’m assuming that someone making $180K will now pay $29,700 for tuition, room and board, while a family making over that amount will pay full fare, unless there are special circumstances, such as a second child in college.</p>
<p>If you have specific questions, you should call the financial aid office and ask.</p>
<p>So if my family makes less than $180k and they have “typical assets” I can fully expect my COA to be less than $29,700 for tuition, room, and board?</p>
<p>EDIT: I understand numbers will change with tuition increases but I think you get what I’m saying.</p>
<p>Based upon that article, which is two years old, yes. But, I would call the FA office and ask if those same rules still apply today.</p>
<p>you can just plug in your family’s information into H’s online financial aid calculator to get an exact estimate. it’s fairly accurate.</p>