Ivy League financial aid?

<p>I'm considering schools like Harvard and I'm wondering how much financial aid the Ivy Leagues give. My family makes about $30,000 a year and we would desperately need financial aid to send me off to a school like that. Assuming my grades/scores are high enough, would I qualify for a full scholarship?</p>

<p>it varies among each ivy, but you would pretty much get a full scholarship. my parents make about 35,000 a year, and the fin aid i got from the ivies were greatt. i would only have to pay a couple thousand if i went to any of the ivies i got into (princeton, dartmouth, cornell). so they definitely make it very affordable.</p>

<p>The Ivies give just about the best financial aid you can receive among schools that use the profile. There are a couple big caveats to that statement. The Ivies do not give any merit aid or athletic scholarships so schools that do may well be able to make their cost of attendence lower than an IVY. Second, I specifically mentioned profile schools and getting among the best financial aid from an IVY. For some families in some situations schools that only use the FAFSA calculaion of EFCs may provide better aid (a divorced family where the custodian parents makes much less income than the non-custodial parent for example) … however in most cases schools that use the FAFSA EFC do not meet 100% of demonstrated need so even the favorable FAFSA EFC might not yield more financial aid than an Ivy would.</p>

<p>If you have the stats to get accepted than certainly the ivies will meet your need since your income is so low. I’m assuming that you don’t have much in assets and you don’t have an affluent non-custodial parent.</p>

<p>What are you doing about matches and safeties? If you have ivy-quality stats, then you need to carefully pick matches and safeties that will either give you lots of aid or will give you lots of merit.</p>

<p>What are your stats?</p>

<p>I would also add for new readers that for both FAFSA and Profile it is income and assets not income only. An example of that is a family with a retiree that is at a point where income is low but assets might not be. Or an inheritance type situation where income is low but there is a family owned asset or some business owners who have low income on paper but high asset valuations. All families should take the time to run the calculators so they have a postcard view of their individual situations.</p>

<p>For the typical low income family, HYPS give aid that is simply the best in the world. It will cost you less than any state school and most community colleges. You will graduate debt free. If you get in, you will be taken care of.</p>

<p>I’m only a prospective rising Sophomore - I have a 4.0 GPA and can certainly get a 2300+ on my SAT. For Harvard, I can get a letter of rec. from a big donor (a cousin of mine).</p>

<p>So far, everything you guys have said about their financial aid really motivates me to try and get accepted by the Ivies! My parents really can’t afford to send me anywhere. I’ll try to craft something interesting into my ECs. :)</p>

<p>I really haven’t been looking at safeties/matches yet. </p>

<p>I’ll start talking to my college counselor about all of this as soon as school starts…</p>

<p>Good luck. Getting a 2300+ is not necessarily easy.</p>

<p>While policies can change, this is a good place to start: [Project</a> on Student Debt: What’s the Bottom Line?](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php]Project”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/ncoa_chart.php)</p>

<p>Also note that you, as a student, will be expected to contribute some amount (probably about 1 to 3k per year). </p>

<p>Also check out: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;