Aid Squeeze May force Policy Change

Together with rising costs, the Reagan Administration's recent cuts in financial aid programs and the threat of more cuts in the near future may eventually force Harvard to change its policy of guaranteeing all accepted applicants enough and to attend the College according to admissions and financial and officials.

Under the pressures of inflation rising interest rates on loans, and other costs the admissions department has been forced to request a greater percentage of additional funds from the Faculty for its financial and budget every year in the last decade. L Fred Jewett '57 dean of admissions and financial aid said yesterday.

Mellowing Out

Jewett is spending a one year sabbatical studying the basic problems financial and offices face and 'trying to develop a sense" of the options the College will have if costs and cuts make it impossible to continue the present "funding to need" policy.

The Class of 1986 will be admitted under the current policy, Mellissa D. Gerrity, associate dean of the Faculty for finance, said yesterday. But next year's said package comprised of grants, loans and work-study jobs will rely more heavily on jobs than they now do, because federal regulations are placing severe limits on the other forms of aid.

But the burden placed on undergraduates by jobs and loans which Harvard and other schools have relied on to a greater degree as outright grants dwindle is becoming heavy enough to raise the possibility of a "breaking point." Jewett said "After a certain point it may just not be worth coming here," he said.

Jewett said he hopes to set up meetings with students in the Houses this spring to determine the maximum level of work-study time and post graduate debt students feel they can absorb.

If the consensus is that students would prefer to "spread the pain evenly' by taking on more jobs and loans, rather than lose the assurance that all accepted applicants will get the and they need, the College will have to consider possibilities like establishing its own loan program to supplement the $2500 per student limit and other restrictions on federal loans, Jewett said.

The Business School now has such a pro

gram, but its graduates are more uniformly sure of high post-graduate salaries than the College's he said.

But if his ongoing study and the brainstorming sessions with students shoe the burden of loan and jobs is becoming intolerable, or that Harvard's resources simply cannot stretch enough to continue funding all accepted applicants, officials will have to begin discussing whether to admit some applicants without assurance of financial aid consider applicants financial situation when making admissions decisions of adopt some kind of compromise among these options Jewett said.

Determining the urgency of a policy change is almost impossible because something new every week comes from Washington Jewett said. The proposed new restriction on Guaranteed Student Loans for undergraduates the planned discontinuation of social Security payments to students with deceased parents and the sweeping cuts affecting the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences all affect his forecasts he said.

Though the study has no specific target dates for decisions. Jewel said he hopes to settle the main philosophical issues in his own mind and have "an idea if where we want to go" before next fall. when he returns to day. to-day responsibilities in the admissions office.

He said for now he learn toward the opinion that "you can go too far" in imposing loan and job burdens on students--for instance by requiring so much work study time that if interferes with a stucet's ability to do classwork or engage in extracurricular activities. Jewett cautioned against making debt burdens so high that students will be economically crippled after graduation.

The increased work-study requirements in this year's aid packages have moved the Working Class Students Associations a group connected with College financial aid director Martha C. Lyman to discuss possible ways of relieving the situation, Magali Ruyera '83, chairman of the committee said yesterday.

The meeting's purpose is not to make demands but to improve communication with the financial aid office Rivera added.

Lyman said the office is in the midst of budget negotiations with the Faculty which will decide on next year's allocation for financial aid. She agreed with Jewett that "we regretting pretty close" to a maximum debt burden students should have to stand after graduation and estimated the breaking point at about $10,000 for an undergraduate.

The Faculty is committed to maintaining the current financial and policy if it's at all possible." she said but noted that even constant tuition increases barely cover the rising cost of building maintenance and faculty salaries.

"No matter what it costs we have to buy out to heat the buildings Jewett said "We have to but found you can only serve to many soybean hamburgers