<p>I'm a Purto Rican living in suburban florida and my parents make decent money ---like combined $65,000-- although to many Ivies this has a twofold of a meaning. First, many ivies offer scholarships for FREE admission for people with combined income of under 40K yet only half for b/t 40K to like 60 or 70K. </p>
<p>1)After four years ($160,000!!) which would be (80,000) saying I attend how would I pay for 80K!!!??</p>
<p>2) Also is a combined income of 70K considered priviledged or not because many Harvard students' parent make mega money. Will 70K and URM help me get into harvard at all!?</p>
<p>Are there any FREE scholarships to the IVIes if your parents make about 65K a year!? Because even tho its above 40K paying 160K for four years is hard!!! And if ya take a loan to pay for that undergrad YOU MUST PAY it before you may take a loan for GRADUATE!! SAY I DO GET INTO HARVARD...HOW THE HECK WOULD I PAY for undergrad and some of GRAD!!???? Need help here someone!!!!</p>
<p>There is no such thing as a "free ride." All money given by the Ivies are solely need-based. This WILL include work-study and loans. Furthermore, in admissions, they will not know your parent's financial status.</p>
<p>Please, stop freaking out and act civilized on this board. The way you wrote your questions is definitely, although superficial, what Harvard does not want in its students.</p>
<p>urm only helps in admissions...not to be rude, but you should have realized that. and no, the majority of harvard student's parents do no make mega money.... i think the average is like 70,000. SHould should call the dean of fin aid and explain your situation...my friend did that with yale and got 5,000 more fin aid. good luck</p>
<p>xjayz , yes "what Harvard does not want in its students" because about 80% need not worry about money for ungrad or even grad. Also you have some audacity to say "act civilized" however I may have sent out the wrong message with excess exclamation marks---I just wanted to get attention. </p>
<p>Monzzei, yes I did know that URM helps but I wanted to know to what extent since I am not at the poverty level. Also, are you sure about 70K being the average income? Is this per parent or combined?</p>
<p>Well, based on this one example URM status might make a difference:</p>
<p>A kid at my school got into Cornell with way lower than average stats for Cornell and put "African American" on his app (he was white south african, technically correct). His family is VERY rich, so that may have played a role - maybe his father donated a lot of money. On the other hand, maybe it was the URM status and they didn't look at money.</p>
<p>"80% need not worry about money for ungrad or even grad."</p>
<p>"Harvard's new Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI), announced last spring by President Lawrence H. Summers, has led to the admission of more financial aid students in this year's Early Action competition, especially those from low- and moderate-income backgrounds. More than twice as many admitted students were granted application fee waivers this year compared with last year (43 vs. 20) - a strong indication they will be eligible for the HFAI once their financial aid applications are completed. More than 61 percent of admitted students have applied for financial assistance compared with 58 percent last year."</p>
<p>43 vs. 20- are these percentages or raw numbers? </p>
<p>Apfreak, I think that although you are significantly above the poverty level, being a URM will still help in admissions. Actually, most URMs who apply to Harvard and other such universities are from middle-class or well-off families.</p>
<p>Calling/appealing the finaid dept certainly seems to work, at least at certain schools. Dartmouth knocked off an additional $10000 after we wrote a letter explaining our situation. Notre Dame did bupkus though :(</p>