They take into account COL, they definitely take existing debt obligations into account, as well as size of family.
That said, yes, if you have more money left over per child than someone else, you are expected to pay more.
That said, yes, if you have more money left over per child than someone else, you are expected to pay more.
Harvard’s assumption that the parents can shill out tens of thousands for their kid is just dumb. They don’t realistically take into account parents that don’t care much about education, large families, parents with lots of debt, etc.