If tuition at those schools were less expensive five years ago, I definitely would have applied to more top schools. However, I ended up with a full scholarship to a public university, so I went that route.

Good news.

it definitely would've given me the opportunity to go to a lot of different schools

It wouldn't have really affected my decision to apply to expensive schools because the expensive schools that I was considering were my "reach" schools. So I applied just for the fun of it, because who knows will happen? But I am looking to transfer after this semester, so hopefully the tuition breaks will be extended to transfer students. That would be awesome.

I applied to Harvard... didn't get in, but thats okay I love the school I'm in now... but the price is basically the same as Harvard... Private Colleges suck b/c of the price.... In GA if i went to a state school I'd get hope scholarship to pay for tuition...But i just had to go the pretentious private school route..

It would have made a difference for me. I didn't apply to a lot of those schools because I couldn't afford the application fees.

I agree tee! Had that been in effect 4 years ago I would've tried. Instead I got a full ride, and then some, elsewhere.

I am happy that Harvard is taking baby steps to lower costs, but really, with their endowment? Harvard could lower tuition 90% and still have incredible wealth to work with. This move is nice, but it will still leave the average student 20k or more in debt.

College education should not cost this much. At this point it is a necessity, not a privilege as in previous generations. I hope schools and text book publishers wake up to that fact, because most students are leaving college with immense, non-dischargeable, too high interest (6.80% fed) debt. *steps off soap box*

Terryt18, I know what you mean and it only gets worse with Grad programs.

I hope Savvy has more posts of this type, education costs do not receive enough attention. Thanks!

I think that this is a great thing for harvard to do. They might be able to pull in even more smart people that wouldn't apply because of the old cost.

I think this is great! Harvard and most of the Ivy Leagues were totally out of my.. league. Some state universities in TX are also following along with the same idea. Texas A&M in College Station, Texas has dropped their tuition reate down by half!

It's kind of a relief to hear that after years of "oh, we're increasing tuition by 10% this year and 4% next year". I hope a few public schools follow their lead.

Now then, what is UP with that frighteningly skinny girl's flip top head?

Would have been nice several years ago -- I was accepted to Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton, and had to turn them all down because I got no scholarship money and received no need-based financial aid since my parents made enough money but wouldn't help me cover the cost of college (that whole 'you'll appreciate it more if you pay for it' thing).
Instead, I wound up going to GW because the gave me a HUGE academic scholarship.. and GW is now the most expensive school in the country. I was really bitter at first to have to go there when I got into all my top choice schools, but I really enjoyed it in the end and LOVED being in DC so much that I stayed in the city (but different school) for graduate school.

Price was my biggest factor in deciding where to go to college since I'm paying for it on my own, other than the small amounts of scholarship money I received. If this would have happened a few years earlier, I would have applied.

Not really related to the cost of going to college, but that picture gives me the creeps. The girl is weirdly frail, and laughing kind of crazily...

I totally agree, dfekart!

Does anyone know if this is extending to grad programs? The students that leave law and medical programs usually have much much higher debt loads, and I'm sure that extends to other grad programs as well.

I just dropped out of my law school program because my prospective debt of $120k (after a $60k scholarship) was waay too much to stomach because I wanted a career in government. In one semester, I went $20k in debt, double my undergrad debt. If this happened at a grad school level I would definitely still be in law school.

As far as undergrad goes, three private schools gave me a nearly full ride for need-based reasons in addition to small merit scholarships. I ended up going to a good school, though below Ivy-league level which was good for me because I wouldn't have even gotten into an Ivy league school anyway! I think some colleges have been giving out these scholarships in the recent years, at least for the really broke people (thank you University of Rochester!) but it's good to see that Harvard is making it a policy.

Now I'm joining the Army to pay off loans and help get grad school paid for, and I'm going to learn Arabic and actually get paid to do it. And yes, serve my country...

This is such a relief, hopefully other private schools will follow their lead. Unfortunately for me, the dean of my private school has decided to continue raising the $33,000/year (w/o housing) tuition to attract more elite students.....