<p>EAO1227…my DD is also a freshman this year and has had just an incredible experience as well. I don’t post often on the boards but I was certainly thinking back yesterday to the glorious email that she received. I will say however that she was not convinced it was the place for her until she went to accepted students weekend. Congratulations to all the parents who will have the privilege of watching their kids experience Harvard - it has been amazing!</p>
<p>Curious77- the financial aid letter comes in the “big envelope” you will receive in a few days, along with many other forms to fill out. Ours came in a large USPS Priority light cardboard envelope.</p>
<p>Welcome Catherine’smom,</p>
<p>I’m so excited for the new acceptees and their families. I started this thread long ago to help parents of accepted students. It’s a safe place to ask questions and give suggestions. </p>
<p>Curious77, my son rec’vd his financial aid offer 2 days after the acceptance e-mail. Keep on the look-out!</p>
<p>Catherine’s Mom and EAO - Congrats! EAO, your son has two great choices, and they each place both your kids in the same town! We’ve been to Cambridge twice this year to visit both daughters and it’s been great seeing two for one (though it gets expensive taking TWO sets of friends out to eat)!</p>
<p>Coureur - Congrats on Dartmouth! That would be my Ivy fantasy. The first time I had a reason to drive across NH I got off the interstate to see the place, and I stopped dead in my tracks and said “Whoa! This is college . . . just as I’ve always pictured it.” Both our small-town Ds wanted to be in a more urban environment, so they nixed D when I brought it up. The last time I flew into Boston I came out to get on the Silver Line and the green-and-white Dartmouth shuttle bus was just pulling away, and I kind of sighed and thought “it’d be fun to be getting on that shuttle.” The youngest of three is still in HS; I’m hanging onto a Dartmouth viewbook that one of his sisters received to accidentally leave out in a conspicuous place for him to find. :)</p>
<p>Dear All,</p>
<p>My DD got accepted by Harvard, UC Berkeley with Regents Scholarship ($1k per year though), and a few other private Us. Due to privacy concern and some mis-understanding, I didn’t sent out the Tax Return to IDOC (but filed FAFSA and CC profile before) since we are not qualified for any aid based on Princeton and Yale’s Aid Estimators (on their web sites) since our EFC for them are around 5k to 10K higher than their COA. After researching again, it seems we do have a shot with Harvard’s financial aid since our AGI is around $180k. So any parents know if Hardvard would still consider aid even if they have not received Tax Return since they have our financial numbers in FAFSA and CC profile? </p>
<p>If we don’t qualify for any aid, is it really worth to pay $30k more per year to go to Harvard than go to UC Berkeley? I really prefer to spend half for undergraduate and the rest for Graduate School since that’s what my DD want to do anyway. However, the Hardvard brand name is so attempting to high school kids and some emotionally-inclined parants (like my wife-:). I am more trying to treat this as business case and try to analuze it in a rational way.</p>
<p>Any thoughts???</p>
<p>Thanks,
A soon-to-be-broken-dad</p>
<p>The moment of joy comes with too high price. It will be</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. We will await the big envelope. It is nice to now Harvard’s stated position is to cap parental contribution at 10% up to $180,000 in income but I am unclear on what they include in income. Is it AGI, gross or what? So we are anxious to see the offer. We already have Stanford’s from EA.</p>
<p>jpxjlrldcc - I’d call the H financial aid office at (617)-495-1581, Mon-Thu between 8-8. They’re very helpful and easy to work with.</p>
<p>^ ^ I agree with gadad. They are helpful and will do everything possible to facilitate your child attending.</p>
<p>jpxjlrldcc - FAFSA and Profile both had our EFC at greater than our income, so we were looking primarily at non-need scholarships and therefore submitting taxes was not a primary concern. With a Harvard acceptance that changed, but our accountant still did not get the taxes done until summer. We had to make an “estimated” EFC with the help of the <em>extremely helpful</em> financial aid office in August and had other discussions with them when we received a term bill later in the year because the scholarship was listed as “pending”. I wouldn’t worry about the taxes, but I would get them in as soon as possible so you know your EFC when the first term bill arrives.</p>
<p>Thanks all for the very helpful replies. I called financial aid office and they asked me to send in the Tax Reture to IDOC asap. I will see what our package may looks like. </p>
<p>Does any one have any insight about what Asset level (Savings plus Investments) with 0 debt would significantly reduce or wipe out any aid if AGI is around $180k? Does the actual annaual income limit of $180 refer to so freqently includes 401k contribution (up to $15,500) or the 401k contribution is not counted? Looks like I have to wait for two weeks to get final aid answer and I really need it sooner than that to make a decision.</p>
<p>BlessedMom, Hi glad your D is enjoying Harvard as well, is she happy with her house placement? Maybe they know each other. I am more of a reader (stalker?) than a poster but getting braver!!! I do get a lot of grief from my kids if they see something I posted though!</p>
<p>Gadad…I though of you Tuesday night and your 2 D’s at Harvard when my son got accepted! I have always enjoyed reading your posts… always helpful and full of insight! My son however has not made up his mind where to go MIT or Harvard and he is also considering his 3rd top choice the Naval Academy! I keep asking him what he is thinking but he just says, “don’t know, we’ll see”!!! He will do CPW at MIT and visit sister while in Boston before he decides for sure. My younger daughters and I leave for the states tomorrow and he and hubby will follow next week. Hubby is running Boston Marathon on 20th so the whole family will meet in Boston to cheer him on. Will let you know when he decides! </p>
<p>Welcome to all new parents and congratulations, don’t be shy to ask questions its a great group of parents (thats why they have great kids) and thanks to guitars101 for starting it.</p>
<p>Cheers! (Can you tell I am excited to fly to the states!)</p>
<p>jpxjlrldcc…Not sure what we make, close to what you are talking about but we paid about 17,000 last year…and for reference Georgetown and Tufts thought we could foot the whole bill! So yes Harvard is incredibly generous with their financial aide even if you are getting near their cutoff…</p>
<p>EAO - You’re delightfully humble, but with your international lifestyle, your kids deciding among their world-class suitors, and your marathon-running spouse, I’m not buying the notion that you need a streak of boldness to post on CC! :)</p>
<p>EAO, thanks a lot for the info! I was quite discourage before since when I plugged in my # into Princeton and yale’s Fin Aid Estimators, it came out that we won’t get any aid even if their COA go up another 5K to 10K. I thought Harvard aid policy was inline with them. I guess I will find out in two weeks. It was sad to see my DD was not that exicted at all when she got the acceptance email since she knew it was very hard to justfy of paying $30k more per year go to Harvard versus going to UC Berkeley as also seemingly prestige Regents & Chanceller Scholarship receipent where only about 200 incoming students are selected with variuos non-monetary benefits.</p>
<p>jpxjlrldcc - Your situation may differ from mine, but my second daughter was accepted to both Harvard and Yale last year, and H after financial aid was $23,000 less expensive than Y. It was a little disappointing because I thought it would be interesting to see how she rationalized a decision between the two, and then it was no decision at all. (But if your student turns down Yale, be sure to wait until they send the free t-shirt!)</p>
<p>Seeking input on admitted student visit: S can either arrive on the second day of the formal program or visit on another date and independently arrange to obtain information from various departments. They will provide a dorm host for the alternate date, but otherwise it will be pretty much on his own. If he arrives on the second day, he will have had no sleep and will have missed much of the introductory social activities of the first day. I welcome suggestions from experienced parents whose children either went to the formal program or visited on an alternate date. Thanks.</p>
<p>curious77,
I’m not a parent, but I am a former student myself. When you say he’ll miss the first day, do you mean Friday or Saturday? If Friday, he won’t actually be missing a whole lot since plenty of people typically arrive on Saturday. (I did.) If he’ll be missing Saturday and arriving Sunday, that might not be as good, but socially everyone is very open to meeting each other and making new friends all weekend so he wouldn’t have trouble finding a crowd or anything. I’m pretty sure campus tours go on all weekend, and I’m sure there are also plenty activities Sunday to give admitted students a sense of the place. </p>
<p>Either way, I’d advise that he visit during admitted students weekend and not another time. Pre-frosh weekend is a really great experience because you get to experience the campus for the first time together with your classmates - and I think part of learning whether a school is a fit for you is getting to know the people who’ll be on the journey with you. </p>
<p>But if he feels it would be really impossible for him to figure out what he needs to know about the school on no sleep, visiting at another time would be alright, just probably a bit less fun.</p>
<p>My D was not able to visit during pre-frosh weekend three years ago and instead stayed on an extra night after MIT’s CPW to visit Harvard. She made arrangements through the admissions office, and when it seemed that her host, who was extremely nice but very, very busy, was not able to show her around much, I sought the assistance of a few extraordinarily kind CC parents of H students. Those parents called their children, and within minutes, my D had one phone call and two voice mails from students who were more than happy to show her around. She didn’t meet any other prospective students there that day and a half, but she met lots of really wonderful current students and knew it was where she belonged. And while it wasn’t the same organized fun as admit weekend, she did attend an a cappella concert, attended at least one class, ate in two different dining halls, and hung out late into the night talking with some students.</p>
<p>My son didn’t think much of the activities when he went to Harvard’s pre-frosh weekend; his feeling was that there wasn’t that much programmed for them, and that the MIT pre-frosh weekend was a lot more fun. He chose Harvard anyway, which suggests that coming for the pre-frosh weekend as opposed to some other time might not be that important.</p>
<p>My son received his notification of acceptance last year on the 31st, he received his financial package on the 2nd and we were on a plane visiting Harvard on the 8th. My son was about to accept a full tuition with another $24,000 scholarship to another school so he had to make up his mind quickly and we couldnt wait until prefrosh weekend. As soon as he stepped out of the taxi and onto campus he knew that Harvard was for him. We’re from southern california and he has always wanted to go to school on the East coast. We did get a tour and spoke to a current student.</p>
<p>My son did not apply to any school that he would not have wanted to go to. So it was really just a formality to go to Cambridge and see Harvard. He had researched ALL the schools he applied to and was pretty familiar with the programs. </p>
<p>Hope this helps a little.</p>