<p>Sub, please take some time to look at the threads with info about merit aid awards. There are many schools on that list that would offer you some decent merit aid based on your GPA and SAT scores. You have a lot of good options. Start reading about them!</p>
<p>You need to do extansive research to receive a great Merit award. We have researched for couple of years (both working full time). We knew which schools would offer Merits and which will not and had an idea which ones would offer more. The result of application was very close to predicted, no surprises. That is why decision was also smooth, no frustrations, no tragedies. You cannot come to this process absolutely unprepared. You cannot rely on other’s experience either since everybody is in a very different situation. If the goal is to have tuition covered, then time that is spent on research definitely correlates with the level of award. I am talking about high stats kids with alll other things (EC’s,…leadership…) on theri application. We felt that D. has worked hard to rip awards of her labor. Well, unfortunately, award part does not happen automatically, it needs additional labor to make it available to you.</p>
<p>“I can’t apply to any of the other schools that I’ve been planning on going to, it seems.”</p>
<p>You can apply. You just need to do that with realistic expectations about your aid package. HYPS may turn out to be affordable if you get in; if not, you should have merit aid options. Go talk to your college counselor if you haven’t already. Does your school have Naviance?</p>
<p>I ran your number on Harvard’s net cost calc and for 130K income, 50K savings, 50K home equity and zero student asset, net cost is about 18K. About 3K is from summer work. Subtract that and 5K (from your parents), so now you’re down to 10K. The remaining 10K you can borrow. 40K loan, IMO, is not bad if you graduate from HYPSM.</p>
<p>“40K loan, IMO, is not bad”
-This is really bad for most. We are talking about UG loans, not some Med. School or Law school loans. Person who is up to getting accepted at Harvard will definitely qualify for full tuition / full ride at many places, including public and private UGs. There is no reason to start your independent life with the burden of 40K loan for an UG after working that hard to get top stats that would qualify you for free UG education.</p>
<p>Subtrranean, get a good read on what your family and you will be expected to pay at some of the schools you were considering. For those schools with no merit or very little, and that guarantee to meet full need, --any of the ivies would fit that description, the NPCs will be pretty close, if your parents don’t own a business. If the expected contributions are truly way over what your parents can afford, and the school give no merit awards then you know they are off the list.</p>
<p>Even if you take the top 25 USN&WR schools, only half of them don’t give out merit. So out of the thousands of colleges in the US, the vast, vast majority of them give merit money, and your stats are such that you have a good shot at such money at most of them. To focus on the few school, very few schools that you won’t have any chance of affording, is having extreme tunnel vision. Open up there!</p>
<p>40k in loans coming out of Harvard is a reasonable option in my book (though that’s roughly the max I would tolerate). A full ride elsewhere is also a good option, but I don’t think the Harvard choice is wrong under those facts.</p>
<p>Also, the OP shouldn’t bet on this, but I’ve seen some parents who said “You only get $X per year from us,” and then the Harvard acceptance came. X has been known to rise under those circumstances…especially if the teen hasn’t been acting like he was entitled to 10X all along.</p>
<p>OP can likely get $40 K in loans from Staffords if a parent gets rejected from PLUS.</p>
<p>OP can do whatever, I would highly discourage my kid to attend ANY UG that would result in loans. We were happy that D. was on the same page without a peep of discussion about it. It could have been because none of her close friends were aspired to attend Ivy / Elite. Instead most are opted to the cheap / free options for UG and are at the Med. Schools currently, thanking themselves for the good decision and no loans.</p>
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<p>That likely depends on major and career destination. If the Harvard student is laser focused on going into a high paying field like investment banking or management consulting, the greater debt may be more doable than if s/he wanted to go into something low-paid like biology and had no interest in investment banking or management consulting.</p>