Denied Winter Campus Housing, International Students Scramble to Find Alternative Options

Many international students on financial aid at Harvard are scrambling to find lodging over winter break after the College Housing Office unexpectedly denied their housing applications, sparking outrage among undergraduates.

More than 280 people signed a petition earlier this week calling on Harvard College to “address Harvard’s winter housing crisis” and Nathalie A. Milbradt ’26, who serves as co-president of the Woodbridge Society — the College’s main affinity group for international students — said she had directly appealed to the Housing Office on behalf of the students.

Many of the affected students said they requested winter break housing because they cannot afford to travel home for the holidays. The students — who hail from countries as far as Brazil, India, and Zimbabwe — said that their appeals were also denied by the College, leaving many of them without winter housing for the first time since they enrolled at Harvard.

Camilo R. Vasconcelos ’25, an international student from Brazil, said that he was able to easily secure winter housing in the past.

“I never had to appeal, never had to talk to anyone. It was just a very simple, straightforward process,” Vasconcelos said. “You ask for housing, you say you’re international, you’re on full financial aid, you get it. That’s how it used to be.”

Though Vasconcelos said his financial status has not changed, his initial application and subsequent appeal were both denied this year.

In an Oct. 3 email to undergraduate students, the Harvard College Housing Office wrote that “international students with demonstrable financial need” are eligible for campus housing during the College’s winter recess.

But in an email on Monday in response to student appeals, the Housing Office wrote that “being an international student on financial aid alone does not automatically meet the criteria for approval; other unique circumstances must be present.”

Several students said this was the first they had heard of such additional criteria.

“They don’t explain what those circumstances are,” said Antara R. Bhattacharya ’25, who is from India. “I emailed them being like, ‘What unique circumstances?’ and they didn’t get back to me. I just got an auto-reply saying that they’re on Thanksgiving break.”

“Every day that I wait, the prices to change or buy a flight ticket go up,” Bhattacharya added. “It’s kind of last minute to be receiving a housing denial. We’ve all just been floundering and being like, ‘OK, what do we do now?’”

College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo wrote in a statement on Wednesday that administrators “remain committed to working with all students to discuss any challenges they may face as they plan for the Winter Recess.”

“While it’s our expectation that students will not be in residence over the Winter Recess, we understand that some students may need to stay on campus,” Palumbo added. “Only students who meet the eligibility requirements will be approved.”

Harvard undergraduates have the opportunity to apply for campus housing during two winter recess periods, from Dec. 12 to Jan. 2 and from Jan. 3 to Jan. 17. Though the winter housing application and the Housing Office’s website state that international students with financial need are eligible to receive housing for both Winter Recess I and II, nearly all students who spoke with The Crimson for this article said they were not accepted for either stretch.

Palumbo did not comment on why international students on financial aid seemed to have more trouble receiving winter housing this year than in the past.

Vasconcelos and Bhattacharya are among a group of international students that has expressed confusion and frustration at the apparent changes to the winter housing application process.

Eight upperclassmen interviewed by The Crimson all claimed that this was the first year their requests to remain on campus over winter break were rejected.

João Pedro Rocha Frazão ’26, who was denied winter housing for the first time, said he messaged group chats of international students asking who else had been rejected and received nearly two dozen responses.

The application for campus housing during Harvard’s winter recess opened on Oct. 3, and students received their decisions from the Housing Office on Nov. 15. Rejected students had the option to submit an appeal by Nov. 18 and learned the final decision on Nov. 25.

“Imagine getting a response today, the 25th, and having to buy a ticket for less than a month,” said Milbradt, the Woodbridge Society’s co-president. “It’s going to be extremely expensive for students who are already under full financial aid.”

Palumbo wrote in his statement that while the Financial Aid Office is “not involved in the Winter Session Housing decision-making process,” they provide a travel allowance for all students on financial aid.

When Nyasha B. Runhare ’27, a student from Zimbabwe, reached out to the Financial Aid Office asking for assistance with “additional funding options, resources, or alternative solutions,” she was directed to take out a loan or use her semesterly travel allowance.

Bhattacharya also said she contacted the Financial Aid Office, which responded with “sort of a copy-paste email.”

“They got back to me with sort of a copy-paste email that was like, ‘Thank you for reaching out, you’re eligible to borrow money,’” Bhattacharya said. “I don’t think I should have to be borrowing money for something like this.”

In an email from the Financial Aid Office that was sent to Runhare and reviewed by The Crimson, the office wrote that she was “eligible to borrow up to $1,750 for the fall semester.”

“Please note that you will have a credit available mid-January for your spring transportation allowance for about $1,975. We could potentially pre-release a small part of this to help with winter costs, but that will then reduce what you have available to you in the spring to cover your costs,” the Financial Aid Office added.

But for some students, the travel allowance is simply not enough to travel home and back to campus.

Bhattacharya said the price of a round trip to her hometown of Mumbai, India, can reach $2,000 in the holiday season. Milbradt estimated that a flight home to Brazil would cost around $1,000 “if you buy in advance.”

Some international students also said that it was exhausting to have to constantly tell administrators their personal financial situation to get sufficient support.

“For some students, it might be even a humiliating situation — having to explain exactly, ‘OK, my parents make this amount of money; I don’t have $1,000 to go back home for a month,’” Milbradt said.

Some students said the financial burden may force them to weigh their priorities, including deciding between returning home for the winter or having their parents attend graduation in May.

“I’m coming from a group of students who are seniors from Africa and we’re full-need, and a lot of us are supporting our parents to come for graduation,” said Langelihle “Langa” Siziba ’25, who is from Zimbabwe. “This decision to not give us housing feels like we have to choose between going home and graduating on our own, without family.”

If students are denied winter housing, the College removes their Harvard University ID swipe access into dorm buildings — but some people said it is common to see students finding a workaround.

“Something similar happened a lot in the summer,” Siziba said. “Essentially you were living illegally on campus with people who did get housing.”

“But right now it looks like the people who got housing are so few that that’s not even an option, where you can’t even sleep on the floor of your friend’s room,” she added.

Bhattacharya said she has begun asking friends in the Boston area if she can stay with them over winter break.

“It feels really strange to be dependent on other people and pleading with them,” she said.

Rocha said that the lack of support for winter housing has left him feeling “abandoned” by the College.

“There’s no safety net if you need help, you cannot count on them — and it’s extremely frustrating,” he added.

Milbradt said she expects those whose appeals were denied Monday to resort to taking out a loan from the Financial Aid Office, pointing to the lack of feasible alternatives for many international students.

“It’s an entire system that is denying the fact that there are low-income students from other countries that don’t have a place to go,” Milbradt said. “Most international students are not really close to people in the area, or don’t have parents, relatives here in the U.S.”

“You don’t have a second option,” she added.

—Staff writer Meghna Mitra contributed reporting.

—Staff writer Rachel Fields can be reached at rachel.fields@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.