<p>I went to a presentation and the regional admission counselors for these two schools said their average graduate has $5,500 or less of debt. Has anyone else heard or experienced this?</p>
<p>The reason for this is that they offer very generous need-based aid. In the past few years, families making upwards of $180k were eligible for aid at Harvard. I do not know about Princeton.</p>
<p>As MD Mom said, it depends on your tax bracket. I have two children; one is at Harvard, the other at Yale. Both will graduate with zero debt, as the cost-of-attendance for each is about 2/3 the cost of tuition at our flagship state school. Princeton has about the same financial aid as H and Y.</p>
<p>Holy cow Gibby, you did something right…Congratulations</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale and Princeton don’t use federal student loans in their financial aid packages. All aid is either grant or work study, and incorporates expected summer earnings on the part of the student. And the work study requirements are not onerous. If you want to take loans out for the amount that Harvard requires your family to pay, or that the student must contribute via work study and/or summer earnings, you may.</p>
<p>But Harvard’s total packages are about as generous as I’ve personally seen, and in the case of my son, only a full scholarship offer from our flagship university beat Harvard’s offer. I can pay the family contribution share out of my regular earnings without borrowing money. Although, it makes for tight budgeting.</p>
<p>The cost to attend Harvard this year is roughly $56K. This includes tuition, room, board, insurance, an estimate for books and materials, personal expenses, and an allowance for travel. The allowance for travel is hilariously low. But my son is frugal, so the personal expenses allowance is high for him. It helps balance out the travel allowance.</p>
<p>Anyway, if Harvard offers admission, they send an offer of financial aid with it (if you’ve filled out all the FAFSA, tax returns and other documentation for which they ask) that first lays out your student’s anticipated expenses, as I spelled out above. Then they lay out their offer of aid. An offer from Harvard might look something like this:</p>
<p>Harvard Scholarship: $40,000
Anticipated Student Earnings, Summer: $1,500
Work Study: $3,000</p>
<h1>Family Contribution: $11,500</h1>
<p>Total: $56,000</p>
<p>Notice - no loans.</p>
<p>But upon receiving this offer, the family may feel that it would be better to borrow part or all of the family contribution, and there are private lenders who offer private student loans. As well, although Harvard doesn’t offer federal student loans as part of its offers of financial aid, the school will lend students money to cover their summer earnings/work study obligations, if students so choose. The school, itself, has its own lending program. The rate quoted me this past spring was 5%.</p>
<p>Many of my son’s fellow freshmen decided to forgo work this year, to give them the extra time to acclimate, to study, etc. He chose to work. He worked all summer and earned enough to meet Harvard’s expectation, and to meet his work study requirement, he works about 11 hours per week.</p>
<p>But he understands his buddies who decided not to work. Even those 11 hours per week are precious. His workload is beyond intense.</p>
<p>Anyway, he anticipates graduating debt-free. Most of his friends will likely graduate with about $5K in loans, because they didn’t work the first year, and borrowed the money.</p>
<p>^ I can see that working. For me, my 10-12 hrs/week work study framed my schedule well so kept me very disciplined and focused.</p>
<p>I believe it. </p>
<p>But also remember that despite the excellent financial aid program at these schools, approximately 40% of students pay their way. This is to say 40% of the students come from 1-2% of the population for which debt is probably not an issue. I’m not saying people who are not on FA don’t take loans. For example, I’m doing some research for my parents because taking a loan (if I can get a good one) and then investing that money in the market might make a greater return than just paying directly, but at the end of it I wouldn’t consider it debt.</p>
<p>This logic also applies to people on FA who feel investing the money in the market yields a better return on a good loan.</p>