Many students don't apply to Ivy league schools because they think they can't afford it.
However, some Ivy League schools want to change that by luring talent from all economic backgrounds.
Most Ivy league schools are "needs based," meaning students are accepted on academic or other merit. Tuition and fees are calculated based on what the student can afford. No accepted student is turned away because of inability to pay. Some Ivies do not offer other merit scholarships, such as Harvard, according to the school's website.
"We are committed to meeting 100 percent of an undergraduate student's financial aid eligibility," according to Brown University's website.
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The prestigious Ivy League members are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University.
Nobody knows definitively why these schools are in the "Ivy League." However, Dartmouth College professor and unofficial school historian Jere Daniell says the term was coined by a reporter in the 1930s who described the schools as covered in Ivy (a salty insult referring to their age), reported the Badger Herald. The Badger Herald, Madison, Wisconsin, serves the University of Wisconsin–Madison community.
The total cost of attending Columbia University (tuition, room and board, books, and other expenses) sits just over $71,000, according to their website. This puts it in the top 10 most expensive schools in the nation, according to CNN.
While the sticker price of these schools can go over $60,000 a year, many accepted students receive grants and financial aid. At Princeton University, 60 percent of all accepted students are eligible for assistance, according to the school's financial aid page.
Princeton University in New Jersey offers grants that on average cover the total cost of tuition, according to their website.
Princeton and other Ivies offer needs-blind admission to its students, meaning students need not worry about receiving enough financial aid to attend the university.
“We consider an applicant's talents and achievements only in relation to admission. Academic and athletic merits are not considered when awarding aid,” according to their website.
The school boasts that every student’s financial needs based on family income are met through grants and a campus job according to the school’s financial aid page.
Students with a gross family income of less than $65,000 are eligible for aid that will cover 100 percent of tuition, and room and board. Even students with a household income of $140,000 are still eligible for 100 percent tuition coverage with reduction of housing costs. The average grant for the class of 2020 was $48,000, enough to cover tuition, according to Princeton's website.
Columbia University also offers need-based financial aid for all first-year and transfer students. The financial aid packages do not differ between U.S citizens and non-citizens at both Princeton and Columbia.
With an estimated financial aid budget of $128 million, Yale, too, offers 100 percent of demonstrated needs based on family incomes.
Harvard offers need-based financial aid regardless of citizenship. The institution also offers aid in the form of on campus jobs as well payment plans for families.
While University of Pennsylvania offers need-based financial aid for residents in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, they do not offer such aid to international students.
Cornell University does not offer extensive financial aid packaging. However, they have implemented "financial aid initiatives," including matching other school's offers to prospective students. According to their website "[Cornell will] strive to increase grant aid funds by matching the family contribution components and lower loan level of financial aid offers from other Ivy League schools, as well as from Stanford, Duke, and MIT," according to Cornell's website.
Dartmouth's financial aid program is also made up of school scholarships, grants, and government loans. All students are eligible including international students and undocumented students.
Do you have what it takes to get into an Ivy League school? Check out these teens who got accepted into ALL EIGHT Ivy League schools.
