What would you do?!? Forum

[yarsten]

Still haven't heard on aid or housing, but it turns out I'm still responsible for my Harvard housing lease if they can't find another tenant. The guy on the phone said there's a good chance they'd find one but there are no guarantees.
I would love to pay $4000/mo rent.

Do you honestly believe they won't find another tenant? I live in New York and it just isn't a problem to find other tenants. I have never seen empty university housing. I don't think it should be an issue at Harvard.

That's good to hear- I have no idea what the housing market is like up there, but you're right: it's probably safe to assume I won't be paying for it. Still waiting on Stanford for the details...

[d330]

Still haven't heard on aid or housing, but it turns out I'm still responsible for my Harvard housing lease if they can't find another tenant. The guy on the phone said there's a good chance they'd find one but there are no guarantees.
I would love to pay $4000/mo rent.

Don't believe that foolishness. The owner always tries to make the tenant responsible. Makes me think that's a good reason to have an out clause in a lease in the first place. But you should talk to a lawyer on that - I suspect that you can get out of that lease. Even if your only reason is: something came up and my family and I won't be able to move to Cambridge after all. You eat the deposit and he finds another tenant. But call a lawyer, call your future housing professor at SLS.

[yarsten]

Well, no info on aid, but I'm #10 on the waitlist for student housing...
This gets better and better.

[Ti Malice]

Well, no info on aid, but I'm #10 on the waitlist for student housing...
This gets better and better.

It takes no more than ten minutes (probably less) to process the financial aid info for one student. I don't know what the hold up could be. Bug Dean Deal tomorrow morning.

[yarsten]

So they did send me financial details, it just went to my spam folder.
Unfortunately, Stanford offered me significantly less than Harvard (as in $30k/yr less), which is confusing.
I'm obviously going to see if they can match or bring it up. My worry though, is what would happen in subsequent years. It seems that Stanford's formula doesn't favor my situation, so even if they match for year 1, if I have to pay that much extra the next two years, it probably isn't going to work.

[Ti Malice]

Wow. I've never heard of SLS falling short of HLS by anything remotely close to that amount. Crazy.

[Lavitz]

Wow. I've never heard of SLS falling short of HLS by anything remotely close to that amount. Crazy.

Yeah, if that's the final offer, I'd like to switch my vote to Harvard. That's a $90,000 difference, not including interest.

[jselson]

So they did send me financial details, it just went to my spam folder.
Unfortunately, Stanford offered me significantly less than Harvard (as in $30k/yr less), which is confusing.
I'm obviously going to see if they can match or bring it up. My worry though, is what would happen in subsequent years. It seems that Stanford's formula doesn't favor my situation, so even if they match for year 1, if I have to pay that much extra the next two years, it probably isn't going to work.

That is ridiculous. Work with em, but if they can't come within 5 or 10k a year of HLS, enjoy Harvard.

(I'm assuming you'd pay more for your "dream" school. If that's not the case, stay at HLS unless SLS matches.)

[Toby Ziegler]

Wow. I've never heard of SLS falling short of HLS by anything remotely close to that amount. Crazy.

Yeah, if that's the final offer, I'd like to switch my vote to Harvard. That's a $90,000 difference, not including interest.

This is for sure TCR now. That is pretty shocking they not only didn't match, but didn't even come close. And that lay prestige will be pretty sweet.

[TrustInMusic]

At first, I thought Stanford for sure.

But after your fin-aid situation, it's a no-brainer for Harvard. You're right that you'll be absolutely screwed for 2L and 3L even if they match 1L fin aid.

at least you get to tell yourself that you got into your dream school, but was boss enough to decline it.

[jbagelboy]

To ditto the above, losing that much aid, plus the potential apartment landmines and sunk dough, the apartment waitlist situation at stanford.. Sticking with Harvard seems easier and much more stress-free in the long run.

If this was NYU v SLS or Michigan v SLS or something, Stanford would still be too much of an attractive option to turn down. However, in this case, you're still going to Harvard with SICK finaid. I mean. Hard to feel sorry for yourself

ETA: prior to turning the offer down, confirm they havent miscalculated aid or lost one of your forms or something.

[PRgradBYU]

ETA: prior to turning the offer down, confirm they havent miscalculated aid or lost one of your forms or something.

Good call. I know of someone who initially received an insultingly low amount of aid from SLS, appealed, and ended up being quite satisfied with the new amount s/he received. Turns out there was an error re this person's parents' income.

[yarsten]

ETA: prior to turning the offer down, confirm they havent miscalculated aid or lost one of your forms or something.

Good call. I know of someone who initially received an insultingly low amount of aid from SLS, appealed, and ended up being quite satisfied with the new amount s/he received. Turns out there was an error re this person's parents' income.

Yeah, I emailed about the huge $$ difference between the two schools that I thought was atypical so they're going to look it over with some more details I gave them and we'll see what happens. Meanwhile every second that passes is driving me crazy- we were already in freak-out mode about moving to Cambridge in 2 weeks...

[yarsten]

One more update...
revised financial aid package is now $5k less than Harvard...that's negligible as far as I'm concerned. I will be checking on whether that was an error fix or a matching offer, which will affect the next two years.
Also, housing waitlist doesn't look good, I'll probably have to live off-campus year one, though it is close enough that I can go soon and check out some places.

[Ti Malice]

The drama continues. That's one hell of a revision. What was the reason for it?

[MichNole19]

Great Dilemma to be have, congrats on a fantastic cycle. Assuming your financial aid is relatively close, trust your gut! I would say the fact that you stayed on the Stanford waitlist even after making arrangements to move out East says a lot about your desire to stay out West and attend S. As long as S is not ridiculously more expensive than H, change your plans and head out West, I don't think you'll ever regret going to your dream school, but you might regret not going.

Good Luck!

[yarsten]

The drama continues. That's one hell of a revision. What was the reason for it?

They said it was something to do with the number of people in my parents' family... or something. Seems weird, but it's now more on par with what others in my situation have gotten, at least to my knowledge. She didn't indicate that it was any kind of attempt to match Harvard's aid.

[jselson]

The drama continues. That's one hell of a revision. What was the reason for it?

They said it was something to do with the number of people in my parents' family... or something. Seems weird, but it's now more on par with what others in my situation have gotten, at least to my knowledge. She didn't indicate that it was any kind of attempt to match Harvard's aid.

No, of course not ....

[yarsten]

Well, looks like I'm headed to Stanford in a couple of weeks! Thanks for all the input!

[mandyjay11]

Well, looks like I'm headed to Stanford in a couple of weeks! Thanks for all the input!

Good luck! You definitely earned this.

[Toby Ziegler]

That's great, man. Glad everything fell into place.

[Ti Malice]

Well, looks like I'm headed to Stanford in a couple of weeks! Thanks for all the input!

Congrats! I'm glad it worked out for you and your family. It'll be worth it.

[NYstate]

Well, looks like I'm headed to Stanford in a couple of weeks! Thanks for all the input!

Thank God! So happy for you. Great that this worked out and that you didn't give in to your (understandable) initial panic.

Make sure the Harvard students know about your housing.

[utlaw2007]

Congratulations! This is awesome! I am glad everything worked out!

[sinfiery]

Having not read the thread in a while, that was a bit of a roller coaster of emotions, haha. Congratz, glad it worked out!