<p>Harvard has a new financial aid initiative that takes home equity out of the equation, and allows families with incomes of 120 to 180k to pay 10% of their income.</p>
<p>My question is, what other schools have similar financial aid programs just like or close to this?</p>
<p>I’m interested in this too…</p>
<p>Harvard, Yale and Princeton have the deepest pockets, which is one of the reasons why applications have increased dramatically over the past few years to HYP. See: </p>
<p>[Princeton</a> University | Estimator Video Tours](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/tour/#cases]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/financialaid/estimator/tour/#cases)
[Yale</a> Cuts Costs for Families and Students | Financial Aid | Freshmen | Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“Home | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions”>Home | Yale College Undergraduate Admissions)</p>
<p>have applications increased so dramatically that these schools are even harder to get into than before?</p>
<p>Stanford’s pocket is deeper than Princeton’s, I understand. And yes, these generous need-based aid initiatives have definitely made admission more competitive at these schools. The objective of the initiatives is to make these colleges more accessible to capable students from a much broader swath of socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>However Stanford is required by its internal policy to accept a large number (40%?) of Californians, so it is harder to compete for the fewer non-Cal spots. </p>
<p>And does Stanford actually advertise a policy of aid up to $180,000.-family income? I’ve only seen that on Harvard and Princeton’s sites (and Yale).</p>
<p>They do, but it is somewhat more discretionary than the 10%-of-income parameter that HYP uses. Here’s what their website says:</p>
<p>“Families with incomes at higher levels (typically up to $200,000) may also qualify for assistance, especially if more than one family member is enrolled in college. We encourage any family concerned about the ability to pay for a Stanford education to complete the application process. If we are not able to offer need-based scholarship funds we will recommend available loan programs.”</p>
<p>“Stanford’s pocket is deeper than Princeton’s”</p>
<p>Perhaps, however, Stanford’s Financial Aid calculator includes the value of your home; HYP no longer include the value of your home when calculating aid. </p>
<p>See: <a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University;
<p>Also: <a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University;
<p>And: <a href=“Financial Aid : Stanford University”>Financial Aid : Stanford University;
<p>Yes, but again, they exercise discretion to make use of that information in an equitable way. If a low-income family happens to have some home equity, Stanford isn’t likely to use that fact against them when calculating aid–they don’t want to induce lower-income families to have to sell their homes, particularly in the current housing market. OTOH, if a family has income approaching $200K and has a big pile of home equity, Stanford will recognize that such a family typically had some choice about whether to reserve some funds for college costs vs. home equity, and will take that fact into account in its aid calculations. I think that is a better system than ignoring home equity across the board, particularly since some families do put as much of their income into their residences as possible specifically to enhance their financial aid applications. There are even “consulting services” targeted to upper-middle-class families advising them to sock away as much $ into their homes as they possibly can for this reason. That isn’t fair to applicants from families who maintained college savings accounts in preparation for making a reasonable EFC, much less to lower-income families without the ability to save much for college or create much home equity.</p>
<p>“Harvard has a new financial aid initiative that takes home equity out of the equation, and allows families with incomes of 120 to 180k to pay 10% of their income.”</p>
<p>This doesn’t just depend on income, but also assets, and a host of other items. Its pretty discretionary contrary to what you have quoted.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/realestate/05mort.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/realestate/05mort.html</a></p>
<p>Although the article is a year old, the US housing market has not improved significantly to alter the fact that:</p>
<p>“With so many people up against the wall with declining home values,” said Philip Day, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, “the issue of using home-equity loans for tuition is almost rendered moot.”</p>
<p>^I expect that financial aid offices will consider the temporarily-reduced liquidity of home equity as one of many factors in their assessments, but I doubt they will simply ignore a substantial chunk of home equity when making need-based assessments that include evaluations of all assets as well as income.</p>
<p>^^ I agree, which is why I did not include Stanford in my original response to the OP’s question, as s/he was specifically asking for “new financial aid initiative that takes home equity out of the equation.”</p>
<p>^ I think that when HYP say that they take home equity out of the equation for families at the $120-180K income levels, they are probably referring to families who have assets (including home equity) not exceeding levels typical for income earners at those ranges. If a family making $180K per year also has, say, several hundred thousand dollars or more of home equity, it’s hard to believe that those colleges don’t take that into account, though they may also factor in current market conditions to an extent. The same would apply to other assets beyond levels typical for income earners in the given bracket. This is what I understood to be DocT’s point; if this is accurate, then financial aid policies of HYP and S may not differ materially in practice.</p>
<p>is 500k alot of home equity for an income of 120k</p>
<p>See: [The</a> Stanford Review To Pay or Not to Pay: Contrasting Views on Stanford?s New Financial Aid Policy](<a href=“http://stanfordreview.org/article/pay-or-not-pay-contrasting-views-stanfords-new-fin]The”>http://stanfordreview.org/article/pay-or-not-pay-contrasting-views-stanfords-new-fin)</p>
<p>“While Stanford’s financial aid policies have made it less expensive than some state schools for students from households less than $100,000, Stanford generally remains much more expensive for students from households with income well over $100,000.”</p>
<p>“But at Harvard and Yale, students in the income range $60,000-120,000 can expect only to pay on a sliding scale between 1 and 10% of their income ($600-12,000), which is significantly less than students at Stanford. Students at Harvard and Yale from income brackets between $120,000 and $180,000 can expect to pay between $12,000-18,000. [Stanford’s Director of Financial Aid Karen] Cooper has refused to make comparisons between higher income students at Stanford and Harvard, saying she does not want to mislead them about their potential aid package. She cautioned that aid will be evaluated on an individual basis with a number of factors including home equity, other siblings in college, and cost of living taken into account.”</p>
<p>“Although the financial aid office’s lack of transparency may deter students from making comparisons, Stanford’s parental contributions for upper middle class and upper class students are expected to be higher than that at Harvard and Yale. Despite ranking first in fundraising last year, Stanford’s endowment is less than both Harvard’s and Yale’s. In 2007, Harvard had the largest endowment in the country (34.6 billion) followed by Yale (22.5), Stanford (17.2) and Princeton (15.8).”</p>
<p>wow i didnt know princetons endowment paled in comparison to harvards, is that reflected in the aid they give?</p>
<p>That is interesting, if a couple of years old. (The endowment figures at the end are particularly out of date now.) However, I still doubt that Harvard and Yale look <em>solely</em> at income for those in the $120-180 bracket, and that they disregard any levels of assets, including home equity, that are disproportionately high. The item quoted above is an opinion piece in a Stanford publication, and the writer may not be familiar with the nuances of how the other schools apply their formulas in practice. It may in fact be the case that Stanford asks for somewhat higher contributions from its “upper middle class” families, but it may also be the case that Harvard and Yale families in that income bracket who also have lots of home equity and/or other assets beyond “typical” levels, will also have a higher EFC than just the 10% of income. It would be interesting to hear from someone who fits this description and who applied for aid at each of these schools, to find out how much the packages varied.</p>
<p>My daughter is a rising sophomore at Harvard. She never applied to Stanford, but when I plug in our financials to Stanford’s on-line FA calculator – the same data Harvard is looking at – our expected family contribution is $8,000 higher than what we’re currently paying. Granted, it’s just an on-line calculator, but yes, it would be interesting to hear from someone who applied for aid at both schools to find out how much the packages varied.</p>
<p>^home equity is not counted. I know people with 1 million dollar plus homes who were on financial aid. Everything else is counted however. Its really a black box, contrary to the impression they give. Each person’s case is different and I doubt you can compare expected financial aid between schools until you have them in your hand. Each school will weigh different assets differently.</p>