<p>Harvard claims their aid package results in families earning up to 180K would pay 10% of their income as tuition. What happens with families just over that amount? Income 180K pays 18K, but income 181K pays the full amount?</p>
<p>It depends on particular circumstances, but presumably, the percentage increases with income. A drop from 10% to 100% is unrealistic, or else those people would request that their employer pay them a few thousand dollars less, to save tens of thousands of dollars. 181k/year would likely have to pay a portion of income fairly close to 10%.</p>
<p>An income of $180K does not necessarily mean that you will pay 10% of your income, either - appeals are always available if doing so would put an undue burden on your family.</p>
<p>And it also works the other way around - a family with an income of $180k but high assets will pay more than $18k/year.</p>
<p>^ I was just going to make that point. DH’s paycheck was under the $180k, but assets/interest from assets put us in the $0 financial aid category.</p>
<p>So disciplined savers/investors get the shaft. Or to put it another way, undisciplined spenders get more aid simply because they saved up less than others.</p>
<p>Two neighbors, same 180K income, same cost of living. One spends like crazy, the other has been socking away money for years. Both of their kids get into Harvard. Spender guy pays half of what saver guy pays. Seems unfair, no?</p>
<p>@Chardo - Yup… I’d add a third scenario though.</p>
<p>Neighbor #3 spends a couple thousand to hire a financial planner. They save like the thrifty neighbor, but do it in a savvy way – maxing out the parents retirement accounts (not assessed for finaid purposes), giving money to non-custodial relatives to put in 529 accounts for the children (not assessed, I believe), and most of all minimizing all assets in the children’s names.</p>
<p>They have just as much savings as the thrifty neighbor, but because of the vehicles the savings are in, they get the same amount of finaid as the spendthrift neighbor.</p>
<p>Chardo, that scenario is correct but it’s not just at Harvard. Spenders are rewarded and savers punished throughout higher education.</p>