“1000/6400 does NOT add up to be 60%,…”
A thousand students per year adds up. Sixty percent isn’t unbelievable.
“The reality is that more 60% of Harvard families are on financial aid, and while they can apply for financial aid for international summer study programs, it still cost’s about $5K, not including airfare to send your kid overseas for the summer.”
A lot of opportunities are partially or completely-funded. My son spent a J-term in Greece one year. I had to contribute a few hundred bucks for his airfare to Athens. Harvard paid a lump sum for airfare over to Greece, and then all in-country travel, all food and lodging was paid by Harvard. But no humanitarian stuff. Just study.
This coming summer, my son will be in Asia. All paid for by Harvard. The one sticking point will be that he won’t have any opportunity to work for wages this summer, and thus, will not be able to earn all his “self-help” money this year. I’ve asked him to talk to the financial aid folks about reducing that part of his package (which would then increase his financial aid by a like amount). We’ll have to see how that goes.
But, it’s a research opportunity (not humanitarian) in his concentration, so we’ll figure out a way to make it happen, no matter what.