I was surprised to find that Harvard is less than $60,000 per semester. Not exactly cheap, but far less than I'd expected. However, I was further surprised to find that Harvard's financial aid office believes that even poor students deserve a chance at a Harvard education and have increasingly offered ways to finance their education there once admitted. Then I read the disclaimer. While they believe in helping a family get their kid into Harvard, they do not believe in helping a student into Harvard. If they did, it would not matter what the parents' financial status was like. It would be based on the adult student's financial status, instead. The reason this disturbs me is because it's a generally accepted premise that parents must put their kids through college. So, not all students have equal financial opportunities after all. At least, not in the beginnings of their adult lives. I count myself extremely lucky that I was denied financial aid in my early twenties because of the meager wages my mother made the year before I supported her on my even more meager wage while deciding to go back to school. Why? Because like in my first two weeks of high school where I was denied a week of shop class because I was too poor to buy myself a pair of boots, I was given the opportunity to stretch beyond the supposed limits of society once again. Instead of going for a college education and putting myself into debt like I was told is the proper way to get a good job, I went out and got a good job. Then I went back for a few credits here and there, letting work pay for the credits when I passed with flying colours, keeping myself out of debt. I've gone along with much of society, but overall, have largely ignored some of the choices I could have made in order to "fit in." I've done things mainly because /I/ wanted to, not because of what someone else expected of me. I am very lucky. What I'm trying to say is that if anyone out there is reading this and is stuck in some place where you think you need to comply with the world's confining wishes of what you should do with your life, know that there are other things you could be doing instead. You don't need a college degree to get a job. Sure, it might help, but it's not needed. What is needed in anything you do is determination and the will to do it, working around obstacles as needed and taking as much time as it takes to do what you want to do. Don't let anyone tell you you must become something you don't want to be. Unless, of course, you want to be what others want you to be. That's fine, too. Me, I'm not having kids. Just not my thing. I may eventually get that degree. But it won't be because I worry about my job status or what others think of me. It'll be because I want to obtain something for me. I hope I can some day pass this onto my nephew, or onto my friends' kids, not as a deterrent of any sort, but as a reminder that their strengths will see them through, not their unquestioning compliance with what is normal. Note to parents: You do NOT have an obligation to help finance your children's college education. Once your kid is eighteen, that kid is legally an adult. Now it's your choice to put them through college, or not. Give them the world on a platter, or teach them how to fight for themselves. Do the best you can for your own kid, because only you know your kid and your circumstances. Thanks for listening! :) ::stepsoffsoapbox::
Can I apply for Harvard's financial aid independently of my parents?
No, in 99% of the cases. We feel strongly that your parents have an obligation to help finance your college education. Our aid is available only to students whose families would not otherwise be able to send them to Harvard.
What if my parents refuse to pay for my college education?
There may well be a serious problem. To be fair to all our students, we can base our financial aid decisions only on ability and not willingness to pay, and a decision to attend Harvard must be made by you and your parents.
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