I have a little sports trivia question...

[Kung Wu]

Sheesh, eggheads can make anything complicated.

[mattdalt]

This enraged Lib on NPR said Harvard uses sports scholarships to get their "country club boys" through the backdoor. And if you want to get through the front door and can't qualify academically, $20M is the ticket for entry.

Self edited.

If it is just the number of programs, then yes it is Harvard, It is "cheaper" for Harvard to offer those programs since they do not need to include the cost of attendance in their athletics budget.

[WuDrWu]

I didn't think the Ivy League offered athletic scholarships? I eliminated them from my guesses on that assumption. Damn it.

[Veritas]

FWIW, a friend of mine was a very solid football/basketball (QB/PG) player at a north shore Boston suburb public high school. A few of his teammates who did not receive as much recognition but had much better grades played football at Harvard. My friend received a scholarship to UCF. They all came from middle class families.
Harvard does not give athletic scholarships but I read somewhere that over 80% of their athletic recruits are admitted in contrast to about 33% of their legacy applicants. A lot of different financial aid packages - grants are available for those they want.

[Kung Wu]

Harvard doesn't need to give athletic scholarships ...

- Students from families making less than $85k pay no tuition what-so-ever. For athletes in that bucket, no athletic scholarship needed as tuition is fully covered by endowments.

- Students from families making between $85k and $150k only pay up to 10% of the their income. So your $85,000/yr tuition actually only costs between 0 and $15,000. The rest is covered by endowments. So you are already on a MASSIVE academic scholarship of some sort as a student athlete, regardless.

If your family makes more than $150k, you still end up paying a massively discounted portion of the tuition unless you are from a very well-to-do family, and then you are asked to cover your kid's costs. And you probably don't care at that point.

[C0|dB|00ded]

Harvard doesn't need to give athletic scholarships ...

- Students from families making less than $85k pay no tuition what-so-ever. For athletes in that bucket, no athletic scholarship needed as tuition is fully covered by endowments.

- Students from families making between $85k and $150k only pay up to 10% of the their income. So your $85,000/yr tuition actually only costs between 0 and $15,000. The rest is covered by endowments. So you are already on a MASSIVE academic scholarship of some sort as a student athlete, regardless.

If your family makes more than $150k, you still end up paying a massively discounted portion of the tuition unless you are from a very well-to-do family, and then you are asked to cover your kid's costs. And you probably don't care at that point.

Interesting!

[C0|dB|00ded]

I didn't think the Ivy League offered athletic scholarships? I eliminated them from my guesses on that assumption. Damn it.

Sorry for the confusion. I made an ASSumption and you know how those often end up.

[C0|dB|00ded]

FWIW, a friend of mine was a very solid football/basketball (QB/PG) player at a north shore Boston suburb public high school. A few of his teammates who did not receive as much recognition but had much better grades played football at Harvard. My friend received a scholarship to UCF. They all came from middle class families.
Harvard does not give athletic scholarships but I read somewhere that over 80% of their athletic recruits are admitted in contrast to about 33% of their legacy applicants. A lot of different financial aid packages - grants are available for those they want.

Did you happen to spend a little time at The Yard yourself?

[Veritas]

Yes, though not as an undergraduate, or legacy. I paid my way for a 2 year graduate program. The campus is spread out from Harvard Yard to the Law School campus, down through Harvard Square across the Charles to Allston where HBS and the stadium is located. Not sure if due to construction or what but I did have a class in Harvard Hall at Harvard Yard in a wooden desk tiered classroom similar to something out the 20s or 30s. When I visited during a reunion weekend a few years back, the classroom had sadly been renovated. There are a lot of libraries on campus but I did gravitate towards Widener which oversees the chapel.
I enjoyed my time there and don’t ever remember slagging off. I was tired, disciplined and studied a lot!

I stayed in Boston 5 more years and loved it. Living in Fenway, Back Bay, Winthrop, and for a very brief time on Beach Road on the Lynn/Swampscott line in a huge apartment with great views of the ocean and Nahant Beach about 1/2 mile to my right as I faced the ocean. However, the brackish water and at times horrific smell got the better of me and I moved to Swampscott. My favorite location was Back Bay during baseball season when fans would walk to or from Fenway down Comm. Ave outside my window. Baseball, running the loop around the Charles River, concerts at the Hatch Shell were great. Not so great: Nor’easters in the winter, and suffocating summer humidity waiting for the Green Line subway at Copley Station, or trying to find a parking spot somewhere in BackBay ( though I learned to Parallel park in 5 seconds).

Side note. I distinctively remember riding the Green Line from Park to Mass. Ave at the time when I lived in Fenway. I was reading a small blurb in the Boston Herald or USA Today about a Shocker basketball game. A fight broke out in the subway car. At the next stop everyone cleared out except the 5 guys fighting and me. T cops got on and pulled the guys out. Doors closed and I was left alone for a brief time reading about the Shox. We had lost ( which we did a lot during those days).

Will never forget my tired/pressured time at Harvard or energetic time in Boston. Great time, GREAT city!