Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is going to sound very classist, but if 45% of Harvard’s student is from low enough SES to qualify for free tuition, it doesn’t sound great for the network if its a bunch of FGLI kids making friends with each other but woth no parental networks to leverage. And then the super rich private school kids stick together. Then you are left with just the quality of the Harvatd undergrad education, which sounds like its not much better than many lower ranked schools…

I think it’s great that half the incoming class pays no tuition. There have always been students who should have been at Harvard but never bothered to apply because the family couldn’t afford it. Now it’s more likely that they are getting the best students. Students unlikely to have relied on private tutors or attend silly ECs that parents chose for them. If they went to private schools it was probably on merit scholarships. Some of the lowest income kids might be responsible for younger siblings while a single mother worked long hours.

Tufts is free tuition to families whose income is below $150k. This will take the place of DEI.

Nah. It’s still missing all the families making $200-400k in HCOL areas who won’t get aid and can’t pay the full cost and still afford retirement and their mortgage.

My FGLI spouse attended Harvard and worked multiple PT jobs (at the same time) to afford room, board, clothes and the very occasional trip home.

Their parents were literally worried about putting food on the table every night. Homeownership and retirement savings were not even in the realm of possibility.

I’m all in favor of expanding aid to more families, but it’s worth noting that a DMV family making $300k/yr is living in a different universe than these FGLI families.

Anonymous wrote:Also, you should expect to pay for your kids to eat ffs

These top colleges are competing to get the top desired students. If they can let the student go to the dining hall for reduced cost because of their family income level to they are going to do it to encourage them to enroll.

Also, you should expect to pay for your kids to eat ffs

Your regularly-scheduled reminder that "tuition-free" does not mean "free," as room and board are around 20,000 per year. And don't be surprised by that 5k health insurance fee, as well as other fees.

More importantly, need calculations consider assets as well as income. People should be using Net Price Calculators to see what they would pay for any school. There are no one-size-fits-all estimates by income.

Anonymous wrote:Median MIT IQ = median Harvard IQ +30

Median MIT EQ = median Harvard EQ - 50

And that 2nd equation matters more for professional outcomes.

Median MIT IQ = median Harvard IQ +30

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is going to sound very classist, but if 45% of Harvard’s student is from low enough SES to qualify for free tuition, it doesn’t sound great for the network if its a bunch of FGLI kids making friends with each other but woth no parental networks to leverage. And then the super rich private school kids stick together. Then you are left with just the quality of the Harvatd undergrad education, which sounds like its not much better than many lower ranked schools…

I think it’s great that half the incoming class pays no tuition. There have always been students who should have been at Harvard but never bothered to apply because the family couldn’t afford it. Now it’s more likely that they are getting the best students. Students unlikely to have relied on private tutors or attend silly ECs that parents chose for them. If they went to private schools it was probably on merit scholarships. Some of the lowest income kids might be responsible for younger siblings while a single mother worked long hours.

Tufts is free tuition to families whose income is below $150k. This will take the place of DEI.

Nah. It’s still missing all the families making $200-400k in HCOL areas who won’t get aid and can’t pay the full cost and still afford retirement and their mortgage.

Anonymous wrote:this is going to sound very classist, but if 45% of Harvard’s student is from low enough SES to qualify for free tuition, it doesn’t sound great for the network if its a bunch of FGLI kids making friends with each other but woth no parental networks to leverage. And then the super rich private school kids stick together. Then you are left with just the quality of the Harvard undergrad education, which sounds like its not much better than many lower ranked schools…

Harvard is tuition free for families making less than $200K. In most parts of the country, $200K could be a dual income household with some combination of a teacher, fire fighter, police officer, social worker, non-profit employee, physical therapist, etc. Some of those workers would have advanced degrees, and probably bring college networks too. It is classist to think that these individuals bring no networks. (Only ~20% of Harvard admits are FGLI. )

For all those who want to knock the quality of the Harvard undergrad education, it is still the go-to for employers and kids that graduate have excellent grad school placement. I don't think you have to worry about the Harvard network dying in the future because of their tuition policy.