<p>I thought Harvard would be the same or better than the other Ivys in financial aid, but my package from another Ivy was significantly better. The other Ivy, which also had no loans, had an EFC $5,000 less than Harvard, which for my family is a lot of money. (I think they just handled divorced parents differently). Has anyone had a similar situation? Does Harvard consider other awards if you appeal?</p>
<p>Harvard is D’s best FA offer followed very closely by Yale. Dartmouth and Brown offered 10K less, but Dartmouth’s specifically states that they will match FA from any other Ivy.</p>
<p>What I’m trying to figure out is how to diplomatically suggest to Dartmouth that they consider matching for S, a current student, my D’s H/Y offer. It would sure be nice, but I don’t think I have the fortitude to ask :), especially since I don’t think D will be choosing them.</p>
<p>That’s actually the case for me, too. Yale’s offer would cost my family 5k less than Harvard, except being math-/sci-oriented, that doesn’t work as nicely as it could 
My parents aren’t divorced, though. I (accidentally!) mentioned this to a financial aid officer; he suggested faxing/scanning the relevant award letters along with an explanation of why you think H’s offer is less than optimal. Don’t know if I’m actually going to do that, though.</p>
<p>You guys should definitely try renegotiating your offers. Harvard is extremely generous and I have hard of several cases in which they did match offers. After all, with a 6% admissions rate, they really want you to attend.</p>
<p>My H award was the best followed by Stanford’s then Penn’s. MIT’s was the worst followed by Princeton’s.</p>
<p>MY D’s aid package at Harvard was $20,000 a year better than Yale’s offer.</p>
<p>Just wanted to give an update. </p>
<p>Harvard Financial Aid office was awesome. They increased our award significantly after going over our financial situation with us more closely. I was really impressed.</p>
<p>^I’m so glad it worked out :)!</p>
<p>That’s awesome!</p>