Summer Costs Cut Work-Study's Jobs

Harvard's college work-study program has had to accept fewer students this term than last year because the program spent more than half of this year's already-reduced budget on its summer work-study plan.

The summer job program used up $318,000 of Harvard's $536,000 total federal grant and $79,000 of Radcliffe's $145,000 grant, Larry E. McGuire '58, the work-study program's director, said Tuesday.

Those expenditures have forced the college to limit its work-study program to students whose parents contribute less than $500 toward their tuition. The program financed 400 positions this summer, which has left only enough funds to provide 200 jobs this term.

The work-study program provides federal funds to organizations so they can hire students on financial aid. The government funds cover 70 per cent of the student salaries, while employers pay the rest.

Too Much Money

McGuire, who became the director in August, said Charles O. Honnet, former director of the program, made the decision to have such a large summer program because of the great demand for summer work-study jobs last year. Honnet also said he wanted to avoid underspending.

McGuire, however, said he believes the work-study program should create more jobs during the school year, when employers have many jobs to offer, and need the work-study money to fund them. This is especially true for on-campus jobs, he added.

Students who applied to get on the work-study program were not notified of the cutbacks because the extent of the summer expenditures only became apparent in mid-September. Because of problems encountered during the transition from Honnet's administration the office "was probably two weeks behind in our notification," McGuire said.

Cutbacks

The program has also suffered cutbacks in federal funding, McGuire said. Harvard had received a 38 per cent windfall last year when the National Institute of Health, the agency that distributes money to the work-study programs, gave out extra funds from a surplus it had accumulated. This year, however, Harvard received only its usual grant.

McGuire said some funds may become available for the program in December if some schools do not use their entire allocations. He added, however, that he does not expect to receive more than $25,000 from this source.

Citing the large number of Harvard students on financial aid, McGuire said he will ask the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to double next year's allocations for both Harvard and Radcliffe.