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Harvard at a Glance

Harvard at a Glance

Established

1636

Faculty

About 2,100 faculty members and more than 10,000 academic appointments in affiliated teaching hospitals

Students

Harvard College – About 6,700
Graduate and professional students – About 14,500
Total – About 21,000

School Color

Crimson Specs

Living Alumni

More than 323,000, over 271,000 in the U.S., nearly 52,000 in some 201 other countries. See the alumni website for more information.

Nobel Laureates

44 current and former faculty members

Motto

Veritas (Latin for “truth”)

Real Estate Holdings

5,076 acres

Library Collection

About 17 million volumes

Faculties, Schools, and an Institute

Harvard University is made up of 11 principal academic units – ten faculties and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The ten faculties oversee schools and divisions that offer courses and award academic degrees.

UNDERGRADUATE COST AND FINANCIAL AID

Families with students on scholarship pay an average of $11,500 annually toward the cost of a Harvard education. More than 60 percent of Harvard College students receive scholarship aid, and the average grant this year is $40,000.  

Since 2007, Harvard’s investment in financial aid has climbed by more than 70 percent, from $96.6 million to $166 million per year.

During the 2012-2013 academic year, students from families with incomes below $65,000, and with assets typical for that income level, will generally pay nothing toward the cost of attending Harvard College.  Families with incomes between $65,000 and $150,000 will contribute from 0 to 10 percent of income, depending on individual circumstances.  Significant financial aid also is available for families above those income ranges.

Harvard College launched a “net price calculator” into which applicants and their families can enter their financial data to estimate the net price they will be expected to pay for a year at Harvard.  Please use the calculator to estimate the net cost of attendance.

The total 2011-2012 cost of attending Harvard College without financial aid is $36,305 for tuition and $52,652 for tuition, room, board and fees combined.

University Professors

23 'individuals of distinction'

Harvard University President

President Drew Gilpin Faust This photograph is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license by Harvard University.
 Drew Gilpin Faust

University Income (Fiscal Year 2010)

$3.7 billion

University Expenses (Fiscal Year 2010)

$3.7 billion

Endowment (Fiscal Year 2011)

$32 billion

Harvard University Shields

Harvard Shield
Harvard Shield Wreath

Naming

The name Harvard comes from the college’s first benefactor, the young minister John Harvard of Charlestown. Upon his death in 1638, he left his library and half his estate to the institution established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

More Information

These numbers come from many sources, including the Harvard University Fact Book and the Annual Financial Report to the Board of Overseers of Harvard College.

  1. Mourning that vexes the future
  2. Refusing a ‘diminished self’
  3. Boldly going to Houghton
  4. Making old hearts younger
  5. ‘Brainbow,’ version 2.0
  6. Education without limits
  1. Refusing a ‘diminished self’
  2. Style and substance
  3. The trouble with Kepler
  4. Text of J.K. Rowling’s speech
  5. Subversive education
  6. Using clay to grow bone
Sustainability Impact Report
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View Harvard social     View Harvard Multimedia

Connect with Harvard via:

Twitter

  • About 2 Hours Ago from @GreenHarvard

    RT @HarvardSummer: Oil Wars? Gas revolutions? Find out what it all means in Global Energy & Environmental Politics http://hvrd.me/12EJkh8

  • About 4 Hours Ago from @GreenHarvard

    Recognizing opportunities for #energy efficiency, FAS Building Manager helps Hoffman Laboratory get up to speed - http://hvrd.me/12DTnD7

  • About 6 Hours Ago from @GreenHarvard

    It's official, ALL @Harvard students, staff, faculty now receive discounted @Hubway memberships. Happy #Cycling! - http://hvrd.me/13mcEYJ

  • About 13 Hours Ago from @Harvard

    Applying global health lessons to U.S. health care http://hvrd.me/12HnlX2

  • About 13 Hours Ago from @GreenHarvard

    Climate science, disaster relief converge at conference http://hvrd.me/112aagr @HHI

  • About 13 Hours Ago from @HarvardAlumni

    RT @hgse: Today, on the 59th anniversary of the Brown v. Board decision, we ask you: Has America fulfilled the promise of Brown?

  • About 15 Hours Ago from @GreenHarvard

    An archive of #sustainability and #environment stories from the @Harvard Gazette http://hvrd.me/17GHXo3

  • About 15 Hours Ago from @HarvardAlumni

    RT @syweinstock: Baker '68, Coleman, and Herschbach will receive Harvard Medals for "extraordinary service" http://ow.ly/l8cV9

  • About 15 Hours Ago from @Harvard

    Harvard Alumni Association announces the recipients of the 2013 Harvard Medal http://hvrd.me/12BnECw #harvard13 @HarvardAlumni

Facebook

  • May 17, 2013 from Harvard

    Harvard scientists create fields of elaborate microscopic flowers in beakers of chemical fluid - http://hvrd.me/18O5LoR Read more…

  • May 16, 2013 from Harvard

    The breakthrough technique that allowed scientists to obtain one-of-a-kind, colorful images of connections in the brain is about to get a Read more…

  • May 15, 2013 from Harvard

    A team of scientists discovered an exoplanet using a new method that relies on Einstein's special theory of relativity - http://hvrd. Read more…

  • May 14, 2013 from Harvard

    Of the thousands of flowering plants in the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, only one, the lilac, is singled out each year for a Read more…

  • May 14, 2013 from Harvard

    Students were awarded $30,000 and the grand prize in the Deans’ Cultural Entrepreneurship Challenge for creating an online platform that Read more…

  • May 13, 2013 from Harvard

    Before the new Star Trek film 'Into Darkness' opens, check out Houghton Library's growing Star Trek and science fiction collections Read more…

  • May 12, 2013 from Harvard

    The second annual Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching conference examined the essentials of education - http://hvrd.me/11qNFc8 Read more…

  • May 11, 2013 from Harvard

    Neighbors in space? The Small Magellanic Cloud is so close and bright, it offers an opportunity to study phenomena that are difficult to Read more…

  • May 11, 2013 from Harvard

    How time is measured, valued, and understood - http://hvrd.me/13JlsKJ Read more…

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