Agree that is the likeliest outcome. Under enrolling adds to the selectivity mystique. They could have pulled the trigger on a larger group of wl acceptances a while ago. They just want the broadest pool for the handful of students who committed but now want to take a gap year (non-international).
Yes but they could be getting a lot more income from waitlisted students. Even if they took 20 more waitlists, that’s 20 times whatever the yearly tuition is. If tuition was (hypothetically) $50,000 per year, that’s a million dollars for just 20 waitlisted students. That could pay a lot of bills or legal fee. Or help keep someone from losing their job.
1 Like
Harvard’s comment likely means they don’t anticipate enough international student no-shows or visa rejections to create space.
They’re leaving the door open—but it may be just a crack, and only for rare, very late replacements.
1 Like
I hold my option that Harvard is not motivated at all by a million or two or even ten. At baseline they don’t need anyone’s tuition to operate. Which is why they (and peer schools) can be need blind. Losing the internationals’ tuition dollars (especially since many are full aid) is not motivating at all.
From what I know they haven’t took anyone off for the reason of intl deferment. We will likely see more get off once they find out how many are taking gap years.
2 Likes
They’re cutting programs and firing professors to save money. I definitely think they’re paying close attention to the budget.
How do you know that? Just curious
They’re firing professors? Source please.
The endowment is already budgeted and many donors have the say on where the money goes. they can say the money should go to specific research or need based scholarships.
1 Like
I call my counselor from time to time to catch up. I have a student I am mentoring under the matriculate program, and I have been asking her if she has any updates about Harvard. She has direct contact with the Texas AO, and last spoke to her about a week and half ago.
Correction: not necessarily professors, but staff in general.
How do you know they haven’t accounted for intl deferment?
She said the AO have said to her they have been just trying to fill institutional gaps, and haven’t yet found out how many students have decided to defer. Im assuming this is also pooling in international students.
This also ties into the HIO reporting they have been receiving a lot of calls for deferring.
my sibling is the director of financial aid at another need blind institution. Need blind schools have the ability to swing wildly year-over-year in terms of tuition income. one year they may get $400million in tuition income. The next it may be $500million. They match the aid to the students and not the reverse. Their budget model is built on income that swings from year to year.
1 Like
I understand what you’re trying to say. However, even if what you’re saying is true, Harvard’s situation is truly unprecedented. Drawing a comparison to a different need-blind institution that isn’t under aggressive federal scrutiny just isn’t a fair parallel.
As I said before, Harvard is cutting programs and laying off staff. If they’re willing to put their budget ahead of their very own staff, I don’t think it’s far-fetched for them to do the same for prospective students. Harvard can internally become need-aware while externally portraying themselves to be need-blind.
1 Like
Just wondering how long ago you sent the email to Harvard asking for the clarification.
so is it likely to have a huge wave first week of august?
1 Like
Wait where did u get that info from?
Jack Davis,
Thank you for this excellent information.
Do you think they will give the international students a deadline of when to decide to do a gap year?
Given the difficult circumstances the international students are in, I would think they would give them a generous deadline. No earlier than August 1 and maybe later. Maybe quite a bit later.
But I am speculating and you seem to have much better information.
1 Like