I would be really surprised if Harvard got 2,000 or more applications from Canada. Unlike many places in the world, Canada has a more-than-adequate public university system with plenty of capacity to meet demand, at reasonable costs. Most Canadians don’t particularly want to emigrate to the U.S., especially not to someplace cold in the U.S., and Harvard as a brand doesn’t have the same cachet there that it does in Asia. And putting together an application to a selective American university is an enormous PITA compared to applying to top Canadian universities.
By the way, does anyone know how Harvard evaluates student earned income for financial aid purposes? If, for example, there were a family with annual parental income of ~$50,000/year, and the student had a business that earned $20,000/year, would that be treated as a family with $70,000 income, or a family with $50,000 income and a student who was in a position to make a substantial contribution to his education?
So, @JHS: Regardless of how much money a student’s parents earn per year, if a student’s business earned $20,000, the first $6,310 would be excluded, and the student would be expected to contribute 50% of the remaining balance, or $6,845 towards their education for the following year. Most financial aid packages would therefore reduce the student’s need based aid by an equal amount.
Agreed. Although I’d rather keep anything political out, the to-be-inaugurated administration in the US isn’t too favorable among a sizable amount of people here, and especially with a noticeable amount of younger people. Harvard does have a brand here and is recognized as more prestigious than the top schools here, but I’m not sure how much that prestige compares to Americans and anyone else in the world or if it’s enough to sway many top students here. Even then, I’m not sure if other US schools - even other Ivy Leagues - have much of a brand here. It’s definitely much harder to apply to a selective American university, as there’s scoring high on the SAT and the optional two SAT 2 subject tests (which costs $100 each here) for those schools, while with a top Canadian university, only a high mark average and Extracurriculars are needed - there’s no standardized testing for undergraduates required in any case as a Canadian.
@gibby With businesses, it’s possible to keep income in the name of the business. For example, the business could earn $100,000, but I could pay myself $5,000. This business income is taxed as a lower rate so it can be put into the business to support the business, like purchasing inventory for a product. I’m sure there’s a procedure for cases like that, but how would it work in that case?
^^ That kind of scenario is often tried by parents who own a business, and it usually doesn’t work because as part of the CSS Profile a student and parent are asked numerous questions relating to the equity (income, assets, liability) of their business. Unless you can prove the equity income and assets held in the business are working capital that you need to keep your business afloat, the equity in your business will be counted as an asset for the purposes of financial aid.