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I was a true believer in all of the above....until I started getting aid decisions. My family probably nets $80-$90 thousand a year....NO aid anywhere. Why? Because my dad is a farmer so he has lots of land and assets. Isn't it just a tad unreasonable to expect a guy to sell huge parts of his own business (the way he makes money in the first place) to put a kid through college? I guess not.
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No, but they expect he might take a loan on it and pay it back over time, same as someone with alot of house or business equity, or a bunch of investments.</p>
<p>Hi, bandit_TX, I'm glad you jumped in on this, as that will answer concerns about whether first-year offers differ radically from second-year financial aid offers. They don't, usually, unless a family's income and assets have changed substantially, right? </p>
<p>Most of my uncles and many of my cousins are farmers, so I am aware of the concerns mentioned in post #13. I think the reply in post #21 is the way to look at that issue: if someone has assets, those can be a basis for a loan, so they can be turned into cash even if they are not sold. But, anyhow, how many family farmers have children who have been admitted to Harvard this year? I'd love to hear from them (because of my family ties to farming) to see what they think about the feasibility of the financial aid awards (if any) Harvard is issuing to such families this year.</p>
<p>Out experience (2 years) and comments by others lead me to believe that your award will not vary greatly from year to year unless your financial circumstances change greatly. If you hit the lottery, you can expect your FA to decrease :)</p>
<p>EFC doesn't change much annually, but student contribution (dunning of summer wages) increases. I doubt that the financial aid initiative aims to relieve students of summer work, and it would be insane for Harvard to reduce the supply of work-study laborers on campus.</p>
<p>I'm bumping up this old thread to see if there is anyone around in recent years who found Harvard's strictly need-based financial aids inadequate--I suspect not. In last year's admission round, there were certainly students who were offered lower total out-of-pocket costs at some great universities than what Harvard offered, upon calculating a family's financial need, but I haven't heard of any cases of students saying, "I just can't afford to go to Harvard." This year there are new financial aid policies in place at Harvard, and it will be interesting to see what students report next week as the offers come out.</p>
<p>Let me just point out a general trend for financial aid while i've been here.</p>
<p>Freshman year: free for students under $40,000
Sophomore year: free for students under $60,000
Junior Year: Eliminate loans, home equity no longer a factor (which is HUGE) and costs not to exceed 10% up to incomes of $180k</p>
<p>Each year it's gotten better, who knows where it'll be in a few years!</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman at Harvard and her aid package is far better than any of the other schools she was admitted to. It would cost us more to send her to the local community college than H. We are in the middle class bracket $70k to $80k. As they say getting accepted is the hard part - being able to pay should not be a problem for most.</p>
<p>Literally 95% of America can come to Harvard at a signficantly reduced cost. The new financial aid policies are as follows: If a family's <strong>evaluated</strong> income is below $60,000 a year, there is no expected PARENTAL contribution. Families with <strong>evaluated</strong> incomes between $60,000 to $80,000 will have substantially reduced parental contributions. Families with <strong>evaluated</strong> incomes between $80,000 to $180,000 will have to pay anywhere from 0 to 10% of their total income as their parental contribution.</p>
<p>Note that it is <strong>evaluated</strong>, meaning that it is not only the number that is printed on your parents' IRS1040 forms, but also all sources of income that can be feasibly be used in contributing to the cost of attendance at Harvard. Harvard, just like in the federal guidelines, used to include home equity, but now it is not -- it will save the average family approximately $4,000 a year, according to that press release in December. </p>
<p>Also note that it is a parental contribution, NOT the student contribution -- Harvard still expects students to contribute to their education at Harvard. Student contributions (self-help expectation) is approximately $3,800 a year, but remember, a lot of it goes toward miscellaneous expenses such as books, travel expenses, toiletries, etc. Lots of students get scholarship money to reduce this self-help expectation amount. Harvard does not take away money from your financial aid but rather first reduces your self-help expectation -- so get those scholarships!</p>
<p>There are no loans included in financial aid packages, but families are more than welcome to take loans out -- after all, who can say no to a loan that charges 5% interest starting after 9 months after you graduate, and if you go onto professional or graduate school, defer the interest even further? Before you know it, that loan would be worth so much less (thanks, inflation)! Many parents end up taking out loans to help pay their credit card and other high-interest debt, since the parent loans also have discounted interest rates as well.</p>
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Many parents end up taking out loans to help pay their credit card and other high-interest debt, since the parent loans also have discounted interest rates as well.
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<p>Interesting. That's an economically astute observation.</p>
<p>tokenadult: Yup. I heard many families do this - the average student indebtedness upon graduation is $6,700 the last time I checked, and according to the Financial Aid Office, the vast majority of the debt stems from the parental loans.</p>
<p>Am i wrong in remembering that the new HFAI specifically states that home equity is not considered in Harvard Financial Aid calculations? Wouldn't this help janesmom or drummerdude?</p>
<p>Janesmom: There is no reason to be too proud to talk to a financial aid officer at Harvard. They are more than happy to help you in confidence. When they admit a student, they really do want to help him/her attend the school. And h-bomber is correct, home equity is no longer considered. However, assets are.</p>
<p>Pardonnez moi to the posters who today have provided very helpful answers to persons who posted last year, when the thread was opened. I bumped the thread to get a reality check on last year's Harvard financial aid and this year's. I think drummerdude_07 is now a happy Yale student.</p>
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Affordable for everyone - except Internationals...
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<p>Actually, internationals get as much financial aid as students who are U.S. citizens -- it's just the fact that all the money just comes from Harvard's own funds, whereas the government helps subsidize financial aid costs for U.S. citizens attending college. </p>
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What difference does being international make in Harvard's financial aid practices?
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<p>Instead of filling out the FAFSA and CSS/Profile, internationals have to file a form that is available on the financial aid office website. It's something like "Financial Statement from Students from Foreign Countries."</p>
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Am i wrong in remembering that the new HFAI specifically states that home equity is not considered in Harvard Financial Aid calculations?
<p>I guess I'm the only dissenting voice here. I have four children, with one in college and one going next year (two others younger). When applying for aid, one is asked how many other children are in school, but not how many will be following soon after! Therefore, the schools don't take into account that I will have all four in school at the same time, not next year but a few years later (including graduate school). Even with the changes this year at Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc., I will still be asked to pay an estimated $800,000.00 to fund all of the educations with zero help, if all of my kids go to private schools. I will be asked to pay more than my annual income. Loans are becoming much harder to obtain with the extant banking crisis. With endowments of many, many billions of dollars, these schools could make tuition free and create true meritocracies.</p>
<p>I am asked AT LEAST the number of children I have and their expenses for K-12 education, and the College Board calculator asks for exact ages of each child. </p>
<p>Where have you applied for financial aid, and which colleges have sent you offers? (Harvard's mail comes in a few days, as I recall.) </p>
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I will be asked to pay more than my annual income.
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<p>Which college sets an EFC that is that high? </p>