<p>Basically the big H is abusing its $22 billion endowment. It knows the other schools can't keep up. $60,000 is absolutely unnecessary but the other top schools will have to raise the bar to remain competitive for the lower middle class. Soon Yale will up their bar, then Princeton, then Harvard again, etc etc.</p>
<p>But is it that big a deal for schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to up the bar like that?</p>
<p>"Consider the numbers: Harvard currently has 6,600 students. Footing the entire bill for all its undergraduates would likely run close to $275 million a year (an additional net cost of only about $190 million, because the university already provides about $85 million in scholarships to undergraduates who qualify for need-based aid).</p>
<p>"Of course, $190 million sounds like a lot to most of us, but it is less than 1% of the school's endowment..."</p>
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Leonard hits it on the head-I make about 70-75K per year, but my assets put it closer to 100K. My house was bought for about 330K about 5 years ago, but it is now worth over 700K with current market trends in CT and the work we have done to the house. I got basically no aid from any school.
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Your case is an illustration of why a one-size-fits-all policy on income and assets can create great inequities. Your income would place you very high in the economic pecking order in the rural midwest or rural south. In CT, it definitely does not. Assets? Your house is worth a small fortune, but what do you do, sell it and move to a CT apartment or a house in Arkansas in order to send your kids to college?</p>
<p>This is a great thing happening at Harvard. Good schools shouldn't only be an option for the more well-off.</p>
<p>yeah, without this financial aid initiative program, there is no way that i'd be able to attend harvard next year. i'm really thankful for it.</p>
<p>but i guess you have to maintain that an income bracket for us to be entitled i</p>
<p>Part of its story downplaying the significance of the Harvard initiative.</p>
<p>Thanks for providing the link to the Princeton newspaper article. I think they did a very fair job of quoting me. I have no idea whether anyone in my family will ever be in the happy position of comparing financial aid offers from Harvard and Princeton, but I commend those leaders in the Ivy League who are making sure that list price is no object to applying.</p>
<p>This article made it sound like all you have to do is get accepted, and have less than 60K on your 1040 and you're home free. This is not the case. You still need to tally up all your assets, savings, house value, etc. The forms are the same as the CSS Profile, and are very detailed. You are not awarded a free tuition at Harvard just because you EARN less than 60K annually. </p>
<p>It irritates me to read these headlines, and have people misinterpret the information. It is just as difficult to get money from Harvard as ever----they compare each candidate, and there are many families who make less than 60K
and get absolutely NO financial aid. My daughter is one of them, (I make under 50K but own 75% of a home in a Boston suburb and have some savings) and when people quote that headline I want to hit the roof. There is no free education at Harvard for many of us who fit that criteria, and this is total misrepresentation to me.</p>
<p>Anyone else find this out?</p>
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Anyone else find this out?
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Yes, of course. The point, though, is that the magic income bit has been raised, so it does help those with income but little in assets. Still won't do you any good if your 60k is income in dividends or interest off a ton of capital, of course, thus you're quite right that the headlines and such are very misleading.</p>
<p>Yes, but at this point in life, don't most people own a home or at least part of it? That counts as assets, and that's held against me.</p>
<p>Raising the bar or not........I don't see where it made one hoot of difference. Personally I think it's just Harvard's way of looking gracious without changing anything. Harvard still reviews every application and makes their decision without telling me why or how. And my measley interest income still puts me way below 60K. I put all my money into my house, and into my children's education. I will have 3 in college next year, and none of them got any financial aid. Fortunately one is going to a state school. The other 2 worked too hard for me to not put them into the school of their choice, and most private schools are now hovering in the near 40K.
They did not lower the bar for me, and I think there are others who will find out the same.</p>
<p>Oh and by the way----when I plugged in the numbers for my EFC----it came out that I should expect to pay 15K for my daughter's tuition. Well that certainly came up short----</p>
<p>Thank God for the town scholarships for graduating seniors and other small independent ones they have applied to. Every little bit helps.</p>
<p>Some schools - altough not Harvard - will deduct the value of those "outside" scholarships and awards from the aid to which you would otherwise be entitled.</p>
<p>Yet another reason why cross admits are well advised to lay financial aid offers side by side, and exhaust all appeals, before deciding which is better.</p>
<p>Harvard does deduct the value of outside awards from aid after a certain point ($5000 or something?). Awards decrease need, apparently.</p>
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Yes, but at this point in life, don't most people own a home or at least part of it? That counts as assets, and that's held against me.
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Yes, and it shouldn't. What are you supposed to do -- move into a tent so your kids can go to university?</p>
<p>I've seen horror stories, almost worse in some ways, about farmers: their land is worth a lot of money these days, that's definitely an asset, so no need. The assumption is... what? That a farm family should sell the farm?</p>
<p>Could a rich parent snare $160,000 or more in financial aid from a private college by the following method: Could a parent who is the sole owner of an incorporated business pay himself little starting in the year that his child applies to a school and for several years thereafter and withhold the distribution of dividends until the child is out of college and then slowly release the withheld dividends in order to escape attention and the ATM. Are there protections in the FAFSA and other calculations that would stop a parent from manipulating the system so that a rich parent can not divert funds meant for poorer families? I don't have a child of college admission age and don't know if such safeguards exist. Could anyone explain? Thanks</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work because Harvard looks at assets when determining financial aid. Consider that one of the above posters has been denied financial aid for owning a valuable HOUSE.</p>
<p>Well, yes, but for the first year at least, the business might not have large worth because the profits were usually paid out in salaries, dividends, and bonuses. But you are right that in the succeeding years, the retained earnings would become assets.</p>
<p>I would figure, though, that the business would be considered an asset.</p>