Blogging from A to Z: Today's letter....H for Harvard University (and others)...

I received this email this evening and figured it would make for a good and informative blog post for the challenge:

Harvard University Announcement

No tuition and no student loans

Harvard University announced over the weekend that from now on undergraduate students from low-income families will pay no tuition. In making the announcement, Harvard's president Lawrence H. Summers said, "When only ten percent of the students in elite higher education come from families in the lower half of the income distribution, we are not doing enough. We are not doing enough in bringing elite higher education to the lower half of the income distribution."

If you know of a family earning less than $60,000 a year with an honor student graduating from high school soon, Harvard University wants to pay the tuition. The prestigious university recently announced that from now on undergraduate students from low-income families can go to Harvard for free... no tuition and no student loans!

To find out more about Harvard offering free tuition for families making less than $60,000 a year, visit Harvard's financial aid website at: http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/ or call the school's financial aid office at (617) 495-1581.

SEND TO SOMEONE WHETHER THEY CAN USE OR NOT. THEY JUST MIGHT KNOW SOMEONE WHO CAN.

This sounds spectacular, right? Students from low-income homes are receiving a great opportunity; just because someone is from a home that is struggling to make ends meet, especially in our current economic setting, doesn't mean that they should be blocked from attending an Ivy League school if that is the school they choose.  After checking around for some more information, I found an article on, CNNMoney.com, that discusses this. Apparently Harvard, and other major schools, are planning on using more work-study programs and grant money as financial aid for low-income students. While there is still the chance that the family will need to invest some money, due to the "expected contribution" amount, which is figured when completing the FAFSA. But the amount contributed will be extremely lower than what was previously expected. According to the Harvard financial aid website, at some point family's had to use home equity to pay for their child, or children, to go to Harvard. And chances are, the student would still leave the school with debt! I think that this program is a great idea and it should be taken advantage of.