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Comment by born_a_beetle | Hacker News Reader

A lot of the top tier schools like Harvard provide a very fair financial aid package structure, so no, it isn't a joint effort. It is a myth that most students can't avoid high tuition costs. SUNY schools are very cheap for in state. There is always the route of spending 2 years in community college and then transferring to your state school. That is a very successful model in New Jersey.

The problem is many kids want a luxurious college lifestyle where they do a little work, play a lot of beer pong, and live in nice dorms. Our student loan structure allows for some bad actors to take advantage of this.

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How very fair are these financial aid packages they offer? I went to a low tier university compared to the "elite" named ones and still think it was expensive compared to previously what my parents paid when going to school. The first years at a community college for two years before stepping into university wasn't really a well known thing like today when I started. I don't think people are living luxurious lifestyles at college unless they have rich parents. It wasn't even possible to take out loans that would cover everything if one would choose from my knowledge. Everywhere now a days for anything higher than min-wage requires a degree for an interview. I'm not even sure how med students manage to keep their mental health sane.

>Our program requires no contribution from Harvard families with annual incomes below $65,000. About 20% of our families have no parent contribution. Families with incomes between $65,000 and $150,000 will contribute from 0-10% of their income, and those with incomes above $150,000 will be asked to pay proportionately more than 10%, based on their individual circumstances. Families at all income levels who have significant assets are asked to pay more than those in less fortunate circumstances. Home equity and retirement assets are not considered in our assessment of financial need.

https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/how-aid-works

I don't see that as making this a very fair system. Many of my colleagues had parents refuse to pay a dime. I know they were hurt by it and some actually had to wait until they were of age to be an independent.

Private schools cost money. Somebody has to pay and it isn't the state. If your parents don't want to pay for a private education, then take it up with them. It's fair from Harvard's perspective and the perspective of the general population.

I wasn't aware of the voting that took place to find out what the perspective of the general population thinks. The university I went to was public and the age for being an independent was for federal student aid. Seems like it doesn't matter if something isn't fair.

> The problem is many kids want a luxurious college lifestyle where they do a little work, play a lot of beer pong, and live in nice dorms.

But which came first? Did colleges build the nice dorms because students demanded them, then raise the tuition to pay for them? Or did they build the nice dorms to justify the high tuition they were charging? Students have always wanted to play beer pong and have fun during college - this isn't exactly news. Leaving college with crippling debt seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon though.

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