<p>@thumper1
That line is for mortgage payment, not balance. It is under parental expenses, not assets.</p>
<p>Harvard considers consumer debt through CSS Profile. It’s a reach for all, though.</p>
<p>It wouldn’t be as low cost as Binghampton but McGill, in Montreal, has extensive language offerings, including Arabic. These are required for a degree in Middle Eastern studies (see <a href=“Arts Undergraduate Programs | 2014–2015 Programs, Courses and University Regulations - McGill University”>Arts Undergraduate Programs | 2014–2015 Programs, Courses and University Regulations - McGill University; )</p>
<p>McGill is less expensive than private colleges in the U.S. and has a real international feeling, as it’s in French-speaking Montreal (but classes are in English).</p>
<p>Required Courses (3 credits)</p>
<p>MEST 495 Middle East Studies: Research Seminar (3 credits)
Complementary Courses (33 credits)</p>
<p>33 credits of complementary courses selected from the Middle East Studies course lists as follows:</p>
<p>12 credits (2 levels) in one Middle Eastern language - Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish (lists below). In the case of Arabic, the first two levels involve 15 credits. The extra 3 credits will be counted toward the remainder of the complementary courses requirement.</p>
<p>21 credits (18 if Arabic has been chosen), distributed as follows:
6-9 credits from the History list with at least 6 credits in “core” courses
6-9 credits from the Religion and Philosophy list with at least 6 credits in “core” courses
3-6 credits from the Social Sciences list</p>
<p>Harvard ASKS for consumer debt. Unless you are a financial aid officer there, you don’t know if they USE it in their need based aid calculations. Does the Harvard Net Price Calculator ask about consumer debt? If not, then it’s likely it’s not used in their calculations for need based aid.</p>
<p>Harvard’s NPC is way too simple and that may be far from their real financial aid calculation. I would be surprised if they put that in a supplemental question but not considering it at all.</p>
<p>One of my kid’s schools asked for the value of our cars. So what? One asked for the value in our retirement accounts.</p>
<p>It is speculated that these types of consumer questions are asked to ferret out outliers with regards to expenses. For example, if a family with an income of $10,000 a year has over a million in retirement savings, one would likely question how that happened.</p>
<p>The Harvard NPC might be “simple” but by many reports, it is quite accurate.</p>
<p>NYU does not have that many Arabic offerings. Look up what courses are available for this term and last and next. Not a lot. </p>
<p>Suggest applying to schools that meet full need, or schools where you would be offered merit aid. I spoke to a FA person at a full-need school who told me they can work with most things except for big credit card debt or medical bills. Some schools (NYU, Villanova) seem to offer notoriously poor aid either need based or merit.</p>
<p>Demeron, in my experience, some schools will do a special circumstances consideration for unreimbursed medical expenses. These special circumstances reviews are done on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>No student should assume that they will be guaranteed a financial aid increase because of high debt for any reason, including medical expenses.</p>