<p>Might not matter (Waitlisted) but:</p>
<p>A students parents earn $150.000/year and have an efc of about $40.000/year at other schools. I had read that Harvard has a different scale of about 10% of Gross Income. So would Tuition be $15000 or Tuition room board be $15000.</p>
<p>im in a situation comparable to yours. my efc is about 45kish, and what i would pay at privates ranged from 38k-50k+ (actual financial aid packages), but harvard asked for slightly less than 10% total (so that includes tuition, room and board and everything) at just around 14.5k a year.</p>
<p>makes life easy</p>
<p>If you have a lot of assets in addition to income that may vary the aid package but, yes, roughly 10% for the family contribution. This is one of the reasons that I just have to shake my head when I read all the posts by people who have never attend there who assert that Harvard has no commitment to undergrads.</p>
<p>^ Your headshaking is completely warranted! :)</p>
<p>Sounds generous!</p>
<p>This is probably my #1 reason for wanting to go to Harvard.</p>
<p>They’re beasts at handing out FA.</p>
<p>Yes, “beasts” is certainly a suitable description. :)</p>
<p>No, no, they give out aid as frequently and abundantly as the she sun shines. However, whenever the sun ceases to shine, the moon appears… MORE FINANCIAL AID!!!</p>
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<p>Of course, I understand the expression. I simply found the use of “beasts” to be humorous.</p>
<p>Okay. Just making sure my point was understood :)</p>
<p>Does the 10% include student contribution? Or is it just parents?</p>
<p>Good question. We’re talking about family income, so I guess both parents and student. But Harvard, unlike nearly every other school, assesses parental assets and student assets exactly the same. Other colleges assess a students assets at 4 or 5x the rate they do the parents’.</p>
<p>When our kids were born, we and their grandparents naively started accounts for them that we placed under their names. The accounts did well during the ‘90s. Because of the way that Harvard assesses students’ assets, my D found that her cost after aid from Harvard was $20,000 a year cheaper than her cost after aid at Yale.</p>
<p>I am not talking about assets, just contribution…as in student work study/summer earnings contribution. Thanks!</p>
<p>^No, financial aid does not cover work study or summer earnings contribution. I think it makes sense—precisely because your family has limited ability to pay that you, as the student, should work harder to pay for your own expenses. Even if you have full financial aid covering 100% of parental contribution, there will be a summer earning component, which will mostly go towards paying for books and personal needs.</p>
<p>^However, many summer programs will often pay your summer savings contribution for you if the Financial Aid office has indicated that you are required to pay. I believe the amount is about $1,500, which a variety of scholarships for high school students (if you are an incoming freshman) or grants from Harvard (if you are a current student) can cover. If you qualify for Federal Work Study, there are a variety of grants through which you can get the Work-Study money while pursuing activities of interest to you. For example, there is a grant available (I’ve forgotten the exact name now :() that compensates you for time you spend in the lab. Plus, there are a lot of smaller programs that hand out money like it’s water.</p>
<p>At Harvard, you can rest assured that you generally won’t have to worry too much about money.</p>
<p>And to the OP:</p>
<p>At most, your contribution will be 10% of your income (provided that you have no assets). However, if your family has a heavy debt load and has negative income as a result, your contribution can decrease drastically. The Financial Aid Office is flexible and willing to compromise.</p>