@Data10 does this figure exclude the expected student contribution?
The definition is as follows. It does not directly mention expected student contribution.
Looks like the definition given in #481 includes federal student loans as a reduction in net price.
https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator indicates that the minimum net price with maximum financial aid grants (not including loans (not assumed or expected by Harvard, although students can take federal student loans anyway) or expected student work earnings) at Harvard is $4,600 (which Harvard assumes the student can earn part time during the school year and save from summer earnings).
“Federal, state or local government, or institutional grant and scholarship aid” is subtracted, not loans. It’s my understand Harvard low income students can use federal grants to counter the expected student contribution.
So net price at H is really $4600 in that income range.
I just did a quick myInuition calc with a family income of $15k and that’s what I got. Composed of $1600 cash and $3000 work study.
17% Harvard students receive Pell grants, with an average grant size of $4850 in the most recent IPEDS class, which should more than counter the student contribution. I’d expect most truly low income students at Harvard fall into this group. 12% received other federal grant aid, with an average grant of $4k, and 3% received grants at the state/local level. Some Harvard students also receive private grants or scholarships.
Pell is not in addition to need-based aid, it is part of it. So Pell won’t cover that family/student contribution, @data10
Since socaldad2002 has mentioned the socioeconomic distributions at public colleges, I’d like to ask: Any takers on my request for people to guess the distribution of automobile makes in the student parking area across from my building, at a public college?
Are the college’s undergraduates primarily residential or commuter, or a mix? What kind of SES levels are there in areas within commuting range of the college?
I didn’t find anything explicit for Harvard, but Pell can be used to cover student contribution at other colleges. An example quote from MIT’s page on Questbridge is below:
"All outside awards including a Federal Pell Grant will first reduce the $3,400 Work award and the $2,000 Student Contribution, before reducing MIT Scholarship aid awarded to a student. "
I have never seen Pell not included in a need-based award @Data10
MIT npc returns a $5400 contribution at the $15k family income level. Maybe there is a special deal for QB students, but MIT’s policy is:
https://sfs.mit.edu/undergraduate-students/types-of-aid/other-scholarships-grants/
Some schools do allow outside scholarships to reduce work-study, but some don’t. I know of no schools that consider Pell an outside scholarship. It is disbursed by the college.
When you used the at the NPC at https://sfs.mit.edu/quick-cost-estimator/ to do your estimate did you see the following comment, which appears below the calc? They list the comment below rather than assuming everyone will get a Pell Grant at a certain income level in the calc outputs because external federal grants are beyond their control.
"Pell Grants
All outside awards including a Federal Pell Grant will first reduce the $3,400 student work portion of your contribution, then the $2,000 student contribution, before reducing your MIT Scholarship aid. If you are eligible for a full Pell Grant you may have up to the full cost of attendance covered by grant and scholarship aid."
The page on MIT’s website at https://sfs.mit.edu/undergraduate-students/our-approach-to-aid/understanding-your-award/ alsoexplicitly says Pell Grants can cover student employment contribution.
MIT also says students may use Pell grants to cover student contribution in news stories on MIT.edu, such as http://news.mit.edu/2018/undergraduate-financial-aid-boosted-2018-19-0221
I could list many more examples.
In response to ucbalumnus #488, the students are preponderantly residential, though a large number live in off-campus apartments within a 5-10 mile radius, rather than living in the dorms. The surrounding communities have a wide range of SES levels, covering all quintiles for sure.
No I didn’t, good find. MIT seems to be an outlier, or so they say:
http://news.mit.edu/2018/undergraduate-financial-aid-boosted-2018-19-0221
Very curious to know who else does that, if you can.
@QuantMech gets the thread award for Best Word: preponderantly. Bet you did great on the SAT. 
I’ll just note that a lot of flagships, not just UGA, have a high median income. Many are higher than UGA, Given the cost of college, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Being mostly residential suggests a generally higher SES range for undergraduates for most state schools in most states. Residential students who have cars are probably generally higher SES range than residential students overall. So their cars are probably not junky ones, although probably not super-expensive ones either.
But the specific makes and models of cars are probably very dependent on regional preferences.
Yale recently enhanced its financial aid for low to middle income households. Families with $75k or less household income with typical assets would have $0 parent share. Student effort was also reduced to $3,700 for all 4 years. In addition, Yale for many years has granted a $2,000 stipend for “start up” costs for the first year for these students. Further, there is a $4,000 stipend available for students on aid who pursue unpaid internships, research positions and apprenticeships over the summer.
https://news.yale.edu/2019/10/03/new-scholarships-ensure-affordability-yale
Pell grants and other entitlements cannot be used for student effort. However outside merit aid will not reduce grant aid and can be used to fund student effort. https://finaid.yale.edu/costs-affordability/types-aid-and-other-financial-resources.
Pell grant recipients make up 20% of the Class of 2023. 17% of the class is first gen. For the first time the entering class has less than 50% white matriculates (49.3%). https://admissions.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2023classprofileweb.pdf
Legacies have held pretty steady over the past decade at between 11-12%. The admissions rate has been at around 20%.
I contrast this change in demographics with my era (late 70’s early 80’s). Legacies made up 20% of the class. Minorities were about 17% total. The linked source does not break out Pell grant recipients, but less than 40% of students received any financial aid at all. As recently as 2014, the number of Pell grant recipients was 13%. https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/pierson_update_1976-2000.pdf
I do think many, if not most, of the elites evolve over time with their “ideal class” demographic makeup changing with the times. I also believe the bucketing considerations play much more of a factor as the funnel narrows. To me it is pretty obvious that the elites which consider legacy have made a determination of a rough range of the number of legacies to admit to satisfy the institutional needs cited by Harvard. We can debate endlessly whether that bucket is too large or even justified as a societal or even institutional matter, but at some point we have to assume the institutions are rational actors trying to balance competing needs for very limited spaces.
If I have the chance, I will post the car census this afternoon. Thanks for your interest. I think the results will be even more interesting.
One other variable with the car question: does your university attract a lot of international undergraduates paying list price?