<p>I'm about to be a Harvard freshman this fall, and I just happen to be on financial aid. One of my awards is a travel allowance, and seeing as both my mom and I are going to be traveling from California to Massachusetts, it would be EXTREMELY useful for me to be able to access it, but I have no idea how. I've read through EVERYTHING I could find in my financial aid letter and online, but I still don't know how it works. If anyone knows anything about travel allowances, I would GREATLY appreciate your help. Thank you.</p>
<p>My S is going to be a freshman at another ivy and has FA. His budget shows $1K travel allowance but they don’t actually pay it to us. It’s more to help us budget and it’s part of family EFC. I would call the FA office.</p>
<p>Capenn is correct. In most cases, when a need-based college calculates your scholarship, they assume your family is going to have to pay a certain amount of out-of-pocket travel expenses, so they budget for it and list the amount under Estimated Expenses on your financial award letter. What they have done, in effect, is award you more scholarship money to compensate for the travel expenses your family is going to have to pay. In rare cases though, when a student is on a 100% scholarship, a college may provide plane ticket vouchers as part of your package – but as I said, that is very rare.</p>
<p>What gibby said. The travel expense should factor into your overall cost of attendance, and your federal grants and Harvard Scholarships will simply go towards paying for that total amount.</p>
<p>mariez141 - We are also from Calif and my S is going to Penn. We were able to get some funds for S to visit before he accepted but not for normal travel. He is going to a 4 day pre-orientation program just before regular orientation program start and they are paying 85% of that, but nothing for travel. I agree with gibby about the travel…very rare to get it.</p>
<p>The financial aid offer actually makes estimates to how much your education will cost you (expenses like travel and personal expenses are only estimates). If you qualify for it, (for example people on 100% FA do) then you are required to buy the tickets beforehand, and then later when you reach the school, they refund the money with a cheque when you show them the receipt. (I checked this with the financial aid office.)</p>
<p>Yes, I probably should have mentioned that I’m on 100% financial aid… So perfectpixie, you contacted the Harvard financial aid office? And I just keep the receipt and get it refunded at the financial aid office? Thank you all for your answers! I have a little more peace of mind now :)</p>
<p>Mariez141: Although I trust perfectpixie’s inquiry, it’s highly unusual that Harvard omitted the instructions on how you get reimbursed from your award. To be on the safe side, you should call the Financial Aid office yourself and confirm your reimbursement procedure.</p>
<p>I want to add my support for calling the Financial Aid Office whenever you have a question. You will get the definitive answer without speculation.</p>
<p>hey mareiz, yes, although I think you shall be getting a reimbursement too, I suggest just calling up the FA office and reconfirming. (If your EFC is 0$, then you shall be getting a reimbursment…except if your student contribution that is supposed to be fulfilled through term time work and summer job exceeds or is equal to personal expenses and travel allowance in which case, you’ll just be earning the money over the year and it goes back into your pocket. For me, since I’m an international student and am hence, exempt from a summer job, my personal expenses+travel exceed my own contribution, so I’m supposed to get reimbursed for whatever is the difference)</p>
<p>Gibby, it’s funny, but they haven’t let anyone on full FA know how the procedure works. Most of us (I came to know about others on the Facebook group) have had to email the office and ask for ourselves.</p>