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With endowments of many, many billions of dollars, these schools could make tuition free and create true meritocracies.
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<p>I know that the "tuition free" idea has been thrown around on this forum and in the Washington Post. However, I vehemently disagree that making tuition free would create true meritocracies. I don't think it's fair for my friends who have extremely successful parents (i.e., One of my closest friends at Harvard's father is a hedge fund manager, and they can afford to take family vacations to exotic locations every summer for a month and have many different houses -- and they're paying for my closest friend's college education full freight) to not have to pay anything for Harvard. Granted, this family is an "outlier," but at the same time, I really don't think that the correlation argument between "true meritocracy" and "free tuition" can be made.</p>
<p>I completely agree. I know many people here at Harvard who could afford Harvard tuition several times over (and often do for several siblings). There is no reason that they should not be putting their $200,000 into the Harvard coffers. Ideally, I'd like to see Harvard keep raising up the 10% rule until it gets all the way to the $500,000+ bracket where 10% would be full price anyways.</p>
<p>Neuron, So true... the colleges don't care about the additional children coming up until they are actually there (at the same time.) However, if your income is in the eligible bracket, you should certainly get substantial aid with four in at the same time (up the road) and even with two in right now.</p>
<p>Interestingly, many people used to plan their families so that their children were spaced out ... figuring that they would not have to pay double (or triple) tuition at one time. In terms of college tuition, today it actually makes more sense to plan to have children closer together (if possible, of course.)</p>
<p>Is it hard to receive ( request) for F. aid after being accepted to the school? we are international and there were many rummors in my country that international F. Aid is not really need blind. My son and I thought then we would rather delay receiving the aid for a year and try to manage for freshmen year with most of our savings if accepted. WE did not request FA on the application. thanks any comment will be appreciated</p>
<p>On this note, should I be accepted and receive less than stellar aid, how easy would asking for more be?</p>
<p>FAFSA predicted our EFC to be almost half of my dad's income (he's making less than 100k a year) and I'm worried they won't take into consideration that he is paid in dollars but we live in a euro economy.... exchange rate is BADDDDD and it's only getting worse.</p>
<p>Munchkin, if that's not something they take into account then that's exactly the type of thing you can talk with the finaid department about and try to get them to bump your offer up. Harvard's finaid department has the luxury of trying to make it reasonable for everyone to attend here (aka, not pay 1/2 their income) and they can usually find extra money when necessary. If they don't take something like that into account, it's probably just because it hasn't occurred enough to make a rule necessary.</p>
<p>So at 180k family income, the expected family contribution is 18k and let's say for argument's sake that full billed cost is 50k. What happens if family income is between $180k and $212K? If the expected contribution rise in a single step to $50k, then people in this bracket would be better off earning less. I imagine that the ten percent of income increases in some smoother fashion about 180k but wonder if anyone has an approx idea at which income financial aid / discount ends and family contribution effectively equals full cost. </p>
<p>I agree with previous poster that I would like to see the flat 10% percentage of family income carried up to the point where it equalled full cost.</p>
<p>"What difference does being international make in Harvard's financial aid practices?"</p>
<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>
<p>Being an International applicant applying for financial aid significantly lowers your chances.</p>
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If the expected contribution rise in a single step to $50k
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<p>That's NOT how the aid plan is expected to work. Anyway, the way to find out in a specific case how the aid works is to apply for admission, apply for aid, and wait to see what is on offer. As h-bomber has already helpfully said, if there is anything particularly unusual about your family situation, be sure to communicate that to the financial aid office. Very soon now the students in high school class of 2008 who were admitted to Harvard will be able, if they so choose, to indicate here in this thread if they think the financial aid offers Harvard gives this year are adequate. I look forward to hearing from them.</p>
<p>There isn't a sharp cutoff at 180k - all factors from assets (not including primary residence) to number of children in school are taken into account.</p>