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*If you come from a high income family. Middle-income or low income can go for basically free or the equivalent of 'at-cost' for room and board.

zdragnar 4y ago
This might be true for the Ivy leagues, but from what limited research I had done 20ish years ago, many private colleges talked a whole lot about the aid they offered and didn't deliver if you had even a moderately middle class family.
sokoloff 4y ago
My family was caught in the middle "too poor to pay for it; too high income to attend for free". (Both my parents were public school teachers; we were not worried about putting food on the table but were hardly rolling in it...)
commandlinefan 4y ago
I don't know if either that's actually true, or just how poor you have to be to be considered middle or low income, but I'm on the college application treadmill and the schools seem to consider you "high income" if you bring in enough income to pay for the cost of college, whether or not there's anything left over afterward.
- pastor_bob 4y ago
  Harvard has a price calculator: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculat... The price (30-40k a year) is equivalent to a lot of good state schools in-state (Berkeley, UVA, UMich, etc) at about 180-200k family income.
  - commandlinefan 4y ago
    I'm still skeptical - remember colleges refer to loans as "financial aid".
    - purple_ferret 4y ago
      Some do. Not Harvard[0]. Loans would count against the family contribution [0]https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works/types-aid#loans https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works/type...
lordnacho 4y ago
Not sure how true this is. Perhaps it doesn't count for internationals? But at least one person I know paid pretty much full price despite coming from a humble background.
jnwatson 4y ago
Only if you get accepted to Harvard. Everything below the top Ivies you're gonna have to pay for.

zdragnar 4y ago

This might be true for the Ivy leagues, but from what limited research I had done 20ish years ago, many private colleges talked a whole lot about the aid they offered and didn't deliver if you had even a moderately middle class family.

sokoloff 4y ago

My family was caught in the middle "too poor to pay for it; too high income to attend for free". (Both my parents were public school teachers; we were not worried about putting food on the table but were hardly rolling in it...)

commandlinefan 4y ago

I don't know if either that's actually true, or just how poor you have to be to be considered middle or low income, but I'm on the college application treadmill and the schools seem to consider you "high income" if you bring in enough income to pay for the cost of college, whether or not there's anything left over afterward.

pastor_bob 4y ago
Harvard has a price calculator: https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculat... The price (30-40k a year) is equivalent to a lot of good state schools in-state (Berkeley, UVA, UMich, etc) at about 180-200k family income.
- commandlinefan 4y ago
  I'm still skeptical - remember colleges refer to loans as "financial aid".
  - purple_ferret 4y ago
    Some do. Not Harvard[0]. Loans would count against the family contribution [0]https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works/types-aid#loans https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works/type...

lordnacho 4y ago

Not sure how true this is. Perhaps it doesn't count for internationals? But at least one person I know paid pretty much full price despite coming from a humble background.

jnwatson 4y ago

Only if you get accepted to Harvard. Everything below the top Ivies you're gonna have to pay for.