Estranged Students May Receive More Aid

Beginning this fall, students who have become estranged from their parents will have an easier time convincing the financial aid office that their aid packages should be increased, University President Lawrence H. Summers said earlier this month.

Speaking at the June 6 annual meeting of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, Summers said that at his instruction the financial aid office was drafting new guidelines for the process under which students who develop irreconcilable conflicts with their parents may petition to be considered financially independent.

Being considered financially independent frees disowned students from the responsibility of making up the portion of their tuition that their parents withhold.

Members of the Harvard bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgendered (BGLT) community had criticized the current policy which required a student to withdraw from school for two years to prove their independence.

Many believed the policy had unfairly punished students who were disowned for revealing their sexuality.

At the dinner, Summers said that after hearing the issue raised during sessions with students, he had agreed that the current policy was flawed.

“I think this is an overdue change in response to a legitimate student concern,” Summers said.

Summers spoke in his speech of cutting the time off requirement to one year and waving it entirely for students who have their estrangement documented by the bureau of study counsel or another University body.

But Summers cautioned that the details of the policy change were not final and suggested students speak to the financial aid office for more information.

According to Sally C. Donahue, Harvard’s director of financial aid, work is underway on a policy that embodies the essentials Summers outlined. The key change will be the use of “third-party documentation” to pave the road for a student to be reclassified as independent.

The guidelines change, Donahue said, involves how the financial aid office deals with exceptions to their overall policy.

“Our policy does expect that parents contribute to the extent that they are able—not willing,” she said.

The two-year time off requirement has existed for around 15 years as a way of dealing with estrangement, and serves to prove students’ independence.

During the time parents are expected not to claim students as dependents on their tax forms and students must establish themselves as truly independent, Donahue said.

The two years also served as a “disincentive” for students and parents who might fake estrangement in an effort to get out of the parental contribution to aid.

“You have to safeguard against abuse,” Donahue said.

Summers said in his speech that when he first came to the financial aid office to discuss concerns over the policy, he was told of the office’s worries about abuse if a more liberal policy were used.

Both he and Donahue described a balance between lowering the burden for disowned students while still protecting the aid office against fraud.

Donahue said that the requirement of third party documentation in the new policy would provide that protection.

Typically only a handful of students in each class fall into the category of students affected by the exception, Donahue said, with the nature of the conflicts with their parents involving their choices on issues ranging from sexuality to concentration and area of study.

Despite the limited number of students who will be directly impacted by the policy change, members of the BGLT community lauded Summers’ decision as an important one.

Daniel R. Tremitiere ’02-’03, outgoing chair of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered and Supporters Alliance said that the old policy’s effect went beyond the few people’s lives that “it took and turned on their ends.”

The policy “had a very adverse effect on the BGLT community because it caused a climate where people were encouraged, sometimes even officially, to come out at Harvard, but [then] must hide their sexuality at home,” he said.

BGLTSA had done some activism work on the issue this year and was planning more for next year, Tremitiere said. But an all-out drive may no longer be necessary.

“If it is as good as it sounds, its going to be excellent,” Tremitiere said of Summers’ proposed changes. But Tremitiere added that he still had some questions, particularly about what would be required for third party documentation.

The worry about taking advantage of the policy has been overblown, Tremitiere said. “Having known people who this has affected, the risk of people faking it doesn’t even appear on my radar screen,” he said. “Its a drop in the bucket for the University while on the other hand this has hurt real people’s lives.”

Summers was the keynote speaker at the gay and lesbian alumni dinner, which took place Commencement day. While the substance of Summers’ remarks dealt mainly with the financial aid issue, the audience questioned him on other issues of interest to the BGLT community afterwards.

Pearson Professor of Modern Mathematics Warren Goldfarb asked Summers about his position on the Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC).

In the past, Summers has advocated a reconciliation with ROTC, which is banned from campus because of the military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays. Currently a group of alumni fund Harvard’s contribution to MIT, where Harvard students can participate in ROTC.

At the meeting, Summers reiterated past statements, calling the military’s position “morally wrong” but saying Harvard must do more to respect the student’s contribution.

Another questioner asked about the formation of a committee on gender and sexuality studies.

Tremitiere said that the policy change on financial aid doesn’t diminish concerns over Summers’ positions on those issues—positions which have met with substantial criticism within the BGLT community.

“His position on financial aid isn’t going to change his position on those other issues,” Tremitiere said.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.