Government Acts To Aid Neediest In Class of 1970

The federal government yesterday granted Harvard $68,000 to aid the neediest students in the incoming freshmen class. The University had requested $200,000

The money for the scholarships was authorized under the terms of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Schools will be required to match the grants with scholarships or loans.

Peter K. Gunness '57, assistant director of Admissions stressed that the small size of Harvard's grant will not hamper the student aid program. "We did not plan on getting any money," he said, "so the grant makes it that much easier to do the job we have to do."

He indicated that the funds will make it possible to give scholarships to ten additional freshmen next year.

The College will distribute the funds according to a formula established by the government.

Aid will be given only to those students who could not attend college without it, with a minimum of $200 and a maximum of $800 going to each student per year.

The amount that the student's family can be expected to contribute for his education, figured on the system used by the privately-run College Scholarship Service, will be subtracted from the $800 maximum. A student whose family could pay $300 of his college expenses, for example, would receive $500.

Thus students whose families can afford to pay more than $600 of the expenses will not receive aid under this act. And, since the program is aimed at attracting new students to college, neither will students already attending college classes.