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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. Refusing a ‘diminished self’
  2. ‘Brainbow,’ version 2.0
  3. Building on Einstein
  4. Using clay to grow bone
  5. New masters for Pforzheimer House
  6. The trouble with Kepler
  1. Text of J.K. Rowling’s speech
  2. Meditation’s positive residual effects
  3. Education without limits
  4. Hansjörg Wyss doubles his gift
  5. Cultivating community in Shanghai
  6. The trouble with Kepler
Sustainability Impact Report
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Connect with Harvard via:

Twitter

  • About 6 Hours Ago from @HarvardAlumni

    "Question authority- it will be the foundation of your success" @charleneli shares #gradvice via LinkedIn http://ow.ly/lgoaW #Harvard13

  • About 8 Hours Ago from @Harvard

    Michael Shinagel was recently recognized as the longest-serving dean in Harvard history http://hvrd.me/12J9pgi @HarvardEXT

  • About 9 Hours Ago from @GreenHarvard

    . @Alli_Rogers @emilysadigh any quick #green advice? RT @HarvardAlumni: Alums - what's your #gradvice for #Harvard13?

  • About 9 Hours Ago from @Harvard

    Community teamwork between @Harvard and #Boston is changing residents' lives for the better http://hvrd.me/12HoNsx

  • About 11 Hours Ago from @HarvardAlumni

    #gradvice: "Hearts are the strongest when they beat in response to noble ideals." Ralph Bunche AM'28, PhD'34 #Harvard13...

  • About 11 Hours Ago from @GreenHarvard

    Can't wait to post ours! MT @BikeLeague: Our Bicycle Friendly America team is excited to start sending out new signs. http://t.co/NsFOzvdjhg

  • About 11 Hours Ago from @HarvardAlumni

    Hansjörg Wyss MBA ’65 generously recommits to the @wyssinstitute's mission to transform engineering and medicine http://ow.ly/lfRCD

  • About 11 Hours Ago from @Harvard

    Doug Kelling '72 aims to devise new systems that can remain resilient in a changing landscape of primary care http://hvrd.me/10QpJZI

  • About 12 Hours Ago from @HarvardAlumni

    Congratulations @HarvardEXT #hes2013! 5 AAs, 105 ALBs, and 290 ALMs join the fellowship of educated men and women on 5/30. #Harvard13

Facebook

  • About 19 Hours Ago from Harvard

    Reading a text message while driving is equivalent to driving blindfolded the length of a football field at 55 mph. Read more…

  • May 20, 2013 from Harvard

    For students like Morgan Lehmann '12, financial aid helped make the dream of attending Harvard a reality. Video: http://hvrd.me/10ALawH Read more…

  • May 19, 2013 from Harvard

    Professor Anne Harrington ’82 and her husband John Durant talk about raising their son in Pforzheimer House and their future as House Read more…

  • May 18, 2013 from Harvard

    The black hole captured in this Chandra X-ray Observatory photo is thought to be about 100 million times more massive than our Sun - Read more…

  • 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…

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