Harvard Undergraduate worth the money?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

Dear community,

I am new here and think a lot about applying for an Harvard undergraduate programm in business.
I am from Europe and not from the US and just finished my last year at school.

For a lot of people it is a dream to study at Harvard, including myself. But is it really worth the money and are career options so much better then?
My other options would be a business school in Germany or in France and then try to do my MBA at Harvard. It it important where I did my Bachelor degree when I have a master degree/MBA?

2

The price of college education has risen drastically over the years – much more so than inflation.

From a personal perspective: I went to college in the 1970’s and my parents paid $5,000 a year for me to attend Boston University. At the time, my father was making about $60,000 a year and he was able to pay my tuition, room and board out of his income without taking out loans or re-mortgaging the house. I did not qualify for financial aid, so my tuition represented 1/12 of my father’s salary.

Fast forward to 2016: http://www.bu.edu/sed/admissions/graduate-students/costs-and-tuition/
Boston University’s Cost of Attendance is $68,353, which is about the same as Harvard’s. To pay the same ratio of income-to-tuition that my father paid for my education, I would have to to be earning $816,000. Very few people in the US and abroad make that much money.

So, to answer your question: Is Harvard worth the price? (Is Boston University worth the price?)

My personal feeling is that neither Harvard or Boston University is worth the full fare price if either the student or parent needs to take out loans or re-mortgage their house for the student to attend.

As Germany provides free college education, can your parents afford to send you to Harvard for the full sticker price? Do you need financial aid? All of those questions come in to play when you ask if the undergraduate education is worth the money.

Full Disclosure: My family currently makes about $150,000. Due to Harvard’s generous financial aid, my daughter attended Harvard for about $13,000 a year, which represented 1/12 of our family’s income – the same percentage my father was paying all those years ago. My son received the same generous financial aid at Yale. So, in my family’s situation, Harvard and Yale were certainly worth the money, as it was cheaper to send my kids to HY than our state school. However, if my family was making a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand more, and my children had to pay the full sticker price, I’m not sure if a private college education (be it at Harvard, Boston University, or anywhere else) would be worth the cost of going in debt. Public colleges are much more affordable.

3

Thank you for the answer.

With some financial aid my parents could afford sending me to Harvard, but not for a bachelors degree and something like a MBA.

And my personal opinion is, that it would be better to spent the money for the MBA.

But does it really make such an impact where I did my bachelors degree?

4

I’ve told this story before:

I fully subscribe to Jeffrey Brenzel’s philosophy: http://admissions.yale.edu/after-colleges-accept-you

My advice: go to undergraduate school for free in Germany and consider Harvard and their peer schools for graduate school.

5

Really nice story, will think about it and thank you, you helped me a lot,

have a really nice day :slight_smile:

6

Harvard doesn’t offer an undergraduate business program.

7

I was also going to tell you there is no undergrad business program at Harvard. Students who go into business might study math, or economics, or really anything at all (in reality). I know students who went into consulting after majoring in English literature and spending a lot of time doing plays.

If you qualify for financial aid, Harvard and other tops schools can be a great choice due to the incredible need-based aid they offer. Otherwise, if it means loans, no, it is not worth it, and yes, better to save for that MBA.

I would also ask why has Harvard been your “dream.” Everyone seems to “dream” of Harvard, but that may just mean you don’t know enough about the options for college here or elsewhere. Everyone has heard of Harvard, but it that really a good reason to go there?

Business school in Germany or France sounds great: Germany seems to be tuition free these days.

In this country, you do not have to major in business to go to business (MBA) school. And it helps to work a little between undergrad and grad.

Good luck with your decisions!

8

I have a sophomore at Harvard and in my opinion it is not worthy the cost of paying full price, unless your parents are millionaires…
Also Gibby, congratulation on your daughter’ graduation!
I hope you may feel like moving on and maybe less compelled to monopolize the CC Harvard’s threads with your countless and often condescending posts (again my opinion)…

9

I too have a sophomore at Harvard and I think it is worth every penny and then some. Both me and my kid are very grateful for the opportunity. We are paying full price and they were offered some full scholarships at some prestigious universities which were obviously declined. Harvard offers amazing opportunities.

Gibby I for one enjoy reading all your posts. They are very informative and I hope you keep it up (my opinion)