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>Ivy League schools are famously generous with financial aid. That requires quite a bit of qualification on your part. Ivy League schools will allocate a certa

>Ivy League schools are famously generous with financial aid. That requires quite a bit of qualification on your part. Ivy League schools will allocate a certain number of seats to allow those with the grades but without the means to attend the school. I guess that's generous, but let's not overstate this generosity. They need a lot more students paying full price. >If the tuition cost is an issue for your family, odds are that you won’t be paying sticker price. Like I said - if you can get a full scholarship to attend Harvard, great! Do it! If you need to take out loans that will leave you in debt for tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars with nothing but a 4-year bachelor's degree from Harvard, run away!

jessriedel 6y ago
> Ivy League schools will allocate a certain number of seats to allow those with the grades but without the means to attend the school. Incorrect. All of the Ivies perform need-blind admissions for US citizens; they make an admissions decision without knowing whether the student will need financial aid (which is determined according to a formula). Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are furthermore need-blind for all non-American applicants, while the others look at need for a varying selections of non-American. https://www.forsterthomas.com/admissionsconsultingblog/which-ivy-league-colleges-are-need-blind-and-under-which-circumstances https://www.forsterthomas.com/admissionsconsultingblog/which... Obviously, this is possible because they have huge endowments (they could do just fine charging zero tuition) and they know that statistically a large fraction of the admits will come from very wealthy families that will pay most/all of tuition.
csa 6y ago
All of this is untrue, and frankly it sounds like you are talking out of your ass. 1. Harvard (iirc, all Ivies) has need blind admissions. This is plastered all over their admissions materials. They want the best students period (edit: there are exceptions for international students at some schools). 2. None of the Ivies need the students to pay full price for tuition due to their endowments and other revenue streams. In fact, you would laugh if you saw how little undergrad tuition contributes to the school’s operating budget. 3. Scholarships are not the main source of free money. Most of the free money is in the form of need-based grants. Most (all?) of this grant money goes towards reducing all or part of the tuition cost. 4. For folks who come from modest means, loans and family contributions will be used almost exclusively for room, board, and miscellaneous expenses. The typical loan amount might surprise you by how low it is, and a 6-figure loan balance for an undergrad would be very unlikely (I’ve never heard of one, although they may exist). Note that I am referring undergrad and not to graduate schools, especially professional schools... those are completely different.

jessriedel 6y ago

> Ivy League schools will allocate a certain number of seats to allow those with the grades but without the means to attend the school. Incorrect. All of the Ivies perform need-blind admissions for US citizens; they make an admissions decision without knowing whether the student will need financial aid (which is determined according to a formula). Harvard, Princeton, and Yale are furthermore need-blind for all non-American applicants, while the others look at need for a varying selections of non-American. https://www.forsterthomas.com/admissionsconsultingblog/which-ivy-league-colleges-are-need-blind-and-under-which-circumstances https://www.forsterthomas.com/admissionsconsultingblog/which... Obviously, this is possible because they have huge endowments (they could do just fine charging zero tuition) and they know that statistically a large fraction of the admits will come from very wealthy families that will pay most/all of tuition.

csa 6y ago

All of this is untrue, and frankly it sounds like you are talking out of your ass. 1. Harvard (iirc, all Ivies) has need blind admissions. This is plastered all over their admissions materials. They want the best students period (edit: there are exceptions for international students at some schools). 2. None of the Ivies need the students to pay full price for tuition due to their endowments and other revenue streams. In fact, you would laugh if you saw how little undergrad tuition contributes to the school’s operating budget. 3. Scholarships are not the main source of free money. Most of the free money is in the form of need-based grants. Most (all?) of this grant money goes towards reducing all or part of the tuition cost. 4. For folks who come from modest means, loans and family contributions will be used almost exclusively for room, board, and miscellaneous expenses. The typical loan amount might surprise you by how low it is, and a 6-figure loan balance for an undergrad would be very unlikely (I’ve never heard of one, although they may exist). Note that I am referring undergrad and not to graduate schools, especially professional schools... those are completely different.