Hi! I’m so excited to have been accepted to Harvard and a couple of other Ivies, but now the big question is money. My family is upper-middle class, so it’s pretty hard for us to get need-based aid and scholarships.
I know Harvard doesn’t have merit aid, nor do any other Ivies. My dad is trying to convince me that Harvard has under-the-table merit based aid. He’s telling me to “be creative” and find out how I can get money by emailing professors and heads of departments. Does this type of merit aid exist at Harvard? I know Columbia has a few scholar programs that give research stipends. Does Harvard have anything similar to this that they don’t advertise? I haven’t been able to find anything online.
Should I just try emailing Harvard professors anyway?
Ok so I cant really answer your question, as I do not know the answer.
But I do recommend out of school scholarships. Usually companies and even non-profit organizations offer generous money in exchange for a winning essay.
@dropoutofschool Yes! Thanks. I am applying for many outside scholarships. My dad is just asking about ones from Harvard. I was selected for a scholar program at Columbia where I get $10,000 to do independent research/travel - so now he’s thinking Harvard may offer this as well…
I don’t think either of these scenarios is accurate. “Out of school scholarships” are either very, very competitive, or small and usually for only one year. And the OP is starting late for them for this coming fall. Regarding department scholarships, some colleges have departmental scholarships, but don’t recall hearing that the Ivies are among them. And even if they were, they would not be awarded to incoming freshman, but typically older students who have declared a major and proven themselves to the profs in the departments.
If it is the only way you can go, you could send the emails. But your dad really should have figured out by running net price calculators earlier with you whether he could afford to send you to these schools or not, and not just hoped for some magical probably non-existent merit scholarship to appear. I hope you applied to some more affordable options if he can’t or won’t pay for these.
The Ivy League schools do not have merit scholarships. They do not need them. There are far more qualified applicants than they have room for, so there is no reason to offer merit scholarships to entice good students to come.
I’m curious…Harvard has Restrictive Early Action…which means you cannot apply early to any other schools. Regular decision offers have not been sent out yet.
How would OP have admissions offers to Harvard and “a couple of other Ivies”?
The scholar program the OP is referring to from Columbia is not for the university itself, I don’t think.
Columbia has ED…so if this student got accepted to Columbia ED, all other applications would have needed to be withdrawn by now…, she is going there…not to Harvard.
There is an EA option for Columbia general studies, but those decisions are just coming out now.
I received likely letters from Yale and Columbia and I was accepted to Harvard SCEA! I haven’t officially been accepted to Yale or Columbia, of course. I apologize for the confusion!
Well…you know that saying…don’t count your chickens before they hatch…although likely letters are a good indication in most cases.
And your “scholarship” for Columbia was for a special program, correct? Not for the university itself.
As noted, the Ivies do not give merit scholarship awards. Their financial aid is need based only.
Harvard has very generous need based aid policies…awarding some aid to families up to the $180,000 a year range with “typical assets”.
Did you apply for need based aid?
And most important…has your family said what they will pay annually for you to attend college?
Did you run a net price calculator for these schools? What do they say?
Only caveat…if your parents are self employed or own a business, are divorced, or own real estate other than your primary residence…the NPCs might not be so accurate.
I would not email professors or department heads, your dad is off his rocker. Those people do not work in the financial aid office and they cannot give you merit aid. If there are special programs they will be listed on the website or your will find out when you are there. Harvard does give some post grad fellowships to graduating students, I know of one student who was funded for a year of travel and research of her choice.
My daughter was paid as a teaching assistant as an undergraduate at Brown. She also applied for and received university grants for summer research. In addition she was paid for continued research on a project. But those opportunities were not going to be given to a student who was not yet enrolled, they came from being a student and approaching professors in her department after she was in the major.
Once you are a student, professors and department chairs (and deans) can recommend you for special fellowships, research grants, etc. But these are not “merit aid” i.e. cash for breathing based on your admissions statistics. It involves actual work… there may be fun things involved (travel, enrolling as a special student at an overseas university) but there will be an exchange of services… you are doing research for a professor’s book, or doing a statistical analysis of research that the professor and some grad students have compiled, etc.
The likelihood that a random professor is going to offer a stranger money (over email no less) is zero.
Have we ever had a story out here of a student getting a likely letter and then not getting accepted? I can’t remember one. I mean, the student could blow it and get arrested or have a disciplinary issue… or get rescinded later if they fail 2nd semester classes. But I don’t recall any “likely” letter students not actually getting in.
Congratulations, OP. I hope your dad will pay, as you aren’t going to shake any merit aid out of the departments. If your dad wanted you to get merit aid, he should have helped you research colleges that actually give it.
Odd that someone was smart enough to get into Harvard and doesn’t understand about no merit aid at Ivies. Just to clue in the OP, there are many people with excellent stats who don’t get in at all. And there are many athletes and legacies who would be the first in line to any “wink wink” sources of aid, if they exist.
If you truly are an upper middle class family, to the point that your family’s EFC is more than the cost of attending Harvard, you are expected to pay. Whether you pay through taking out loans or your parents pay, your family will have to pay.
Did Harvard give you financial aid information? Did they offer loan opportunities? What is the family’s EFC? Did you run the NPC for Harvard and Yale and Columbia?
I can tell you one thing, that at most universities either all PhD students get a stipend and free tuition, or close to that, and any professor at Harvard would be using any money laying around to pay for an extra PhD student LONG before they would throw money at a random entering freshman.
Note to OP: You could get a job while you are attending Harvard, that is, a 40 hour per week job. That is one way to pay for college. Or maybe you should not have been looking at colleges out of your family’s price range.
I also agree that if you get money to do research and traveling, that is NOT to say it is towards tuition or fees. It is an extra program, and that $10,000 is something you “get” in order to do the program, not for your regular classes.
Maybe the OP needs to ask their father point blank “can our family afford Harvard?” which should have been asked before he or she applied.
Hello OP, by now I think you have heard clearly that Ivys don’t offer merit aid. it is unfortunate that your family didn’t run net price calculators. So this must be an unpleasant and unforeseen situation. Glad to hear that you have left a couple of options open (Yale, Columbia). Looking further into the $10 K program might be a good idea – is it a sure thing? Would it really make you attend Columbia over Harvard? As others have pointed out, Harvard is among the top schools for (need-based) financial aid, even for upper middle class families. Do they offer loans? You might want to compare offers from the schools you applied to before making a decision. Also be aware that Yale’s financial aid factors in home equity.