Scholarships available at Harvard?

I'm considering applying to Harvard, but I'm concerned about the financial aspect since I know it's a super expensive school. I'm curious about what scholarship options might be available for students planning to attend there. Does Harvard offer a lot of their own scholarships, or should I be looking at external ones as well? If anyone has firsthand experience or advice on securing scholarships for Harvard, I'd love to hear about it!

Harvard University is committed to making education accessible regardless of a family's financial circumstances, and it uses a need-based financial aid system rather than offering merit scholarships. If you come from a family making less than $65,000 per year, you're not expected to contribute anything to tuition and fees. Those who earn between $65,000 and $150,000 pay a sliding scale of 0% to 10% of their income. The remaining cost of attendance can be covered by work-study, Harvard's own resource, or outside scholarships that you may get.

When you receive your financial aid package from Harvard, it already includes an estimate of what you can earn from work-study and a student's summer earnings, reducing the amount that you'd need to pay.

If you secure external scholarships (like from a local organization or national competition), Harvard will first use those funds to reduce the student's work expectation, and then the summer earning contribution. It could eventually reduce the need-based aid, depending on the size of the scholarship. You could potentially have a term-time job or personal savings account, instead of needing to work on campus or over the summer.

What does this mean for you? You could focus your time on finding smaller, local scholarships or grants that are easier to get, as these can directly reduce your work expectation, allowing for more time to focus on your courses and other college experiences.

Also, remember, since Harvard meets 100% of the demonstrated need for all admitted students, the award from Harvard could very well exceed any merit scholarships out there! As a result, don’t shy away from applying due to cost concerns.