The flip side of that is that full rides are more easily available at some very good schools than most people realize; Harvard expects zero financial contributi

The flip side of that is that full rides are more easily available at some very good schools than most people realize; Harvard expects zero financial contribution from any family with total income of $65,000 or less, rising to 10% of income at $150k. (And while $65k ain't much by Silicon Valley standards, US median income was only a bit over $50,000 in 2011.) Harvard's policy: http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k51861&pageid=icb.page246751 http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k51861&pag... Median income: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_...