Applying for financial aid does not jeopardize a student's chance for admission. Indeed, the Admissions Committee may respond favorably to evidence that a candidate has overcome significant obstacles, financial or otherwise. All of Harvard's financial aid is awarded on the basis of demonstrated financial need - there are no academic, athletic or merit-based awards. Harvard meets the full need of every student, including international students, for all four years.

Admitted students who apply for assistance will receive a financial aid award at the time of their admission in early April. The Financial Aid Committee considers carefully each admitted student's family financial circumstances, and strives to ensure that a Harvard education remains fully accessible to those talented students we admit. Each student's demonstrated financial need is fully met with a combination of jobs, and scholarship assistance. In the 2007-08 academic year we awarded over $100 million in need-based scholarships.

Estimate of Financial Aid Eligibility

We realize that it may be helpful for families to have some initial estimate of the likelihood of qualifying for aid before completing the actual aid application forms. The College Board provides a useful Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculator that you can use for an estimate of federal and institutional aid eligibility. To use the calculator, go to their website, enter the required data, receive their estimated Institutional Methodology Expected Family Contribution (IM EFC), and return to this website.

For the 2008-09 academic year, the basic cost of attendance is $50,250. Subtract the estimated IM EFC from $50,250 to determine your estimated "financial need". For incoming freshman, the first $2,500 of financial need is met with an offer of a term-time job and the remaining need is met with scholarship assistance. Subtract $2,500 from your financial need to determine your estimated scholarship eligibility.

We hope that the initial estimate you receive by using the College Board EFC calculator and Harvard's current cost of attendance will be useful in planning for college costs. Since the College Board EFC calculator estimate is based on only a few figures and cannot have a full picture of your individual financial situation, it may not always match our assessment of your expected family contribution. We encourage any family with extenuating circumstances to include an extra letter of explanation with their actual aid application materials.

Caveats and Limitations on the Use of the College Board EFC Calculator:
• The calculator was created for US families and will not necessarily be helpful for Canadian and other international families.
• Any outside awards received by the student will first be used to replace up to the full job portion of the aid award. If outside awards exceed the job portion, the excess will then replace the summer earnings expectation portion of the aid award. If outside awards are greater than both the term-time job and summer earnings expectations, that excess amount will be used to replace an equal amount of Harvard Scholarship.
• In the case of divorced or separated parents, usually a separate EFC will be assessed for each parent.

For more information about Harvard's aid program, including a chart showing the income ranges of our current scholarship families, see our Fact Sheet.