How should I compare Harvard and Princeton financial aid offers to determine which is the better value?

The biggest practical tradeoff is not Harvard versus Princeton’s headline generosity, since both use need-based grant aid and have no-loan policies for students with demonstrated need; it is whether one offer leaves your family with a lower, more predictable four-year cash cost. Compare the actual family payment after grants, including charges that may not appear as tuition and housing. A package with a slightly larger grant can still cost more if it assumes higher parent payments, student earnings, travel, health insurance, or personal expenses.

Start with each school’s net cost for the coming year: billed charges minus institutional grants and scholarships. Then list separately the non-billed costs in each college’s budget, especially flights or other transportation, books, winter clothing if relevant, health-insurance premiums if you will not remain on a family plan, and personal spending. Do not count work-study as free aid; it is an opportunity to earn wages during the year, so treat it as a way to reduce out-of-pocket costs only if the expected work hours are realistic for you.

Ask both financial-aid offices how the award is expected to change over four years. Important questions include whether the parent contribution reflects one-time circumstances, how home equity, business assets, sibling enrollment, and future income changes are treated, and whether grants rise with annual increases in cost of attendance.