Financial Aid Administrators Review Plans

The fifth annual National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators met last week at Harvard to review the financial aid available at colleges and universities throughout the country. The review anticipates a major Congressional reauthorization of the student financial aid program.

R. Jerrold Gibson '51, director of financial aid, said yesterday one issue at the conference was the increasing administrative burdens caused by the growing number of funds and the growing number of students eligible for them. Because school budgets are tight, few schools can afford the necessary increase in administrative staff.

Financial Aid

The administrators also discussed the situation of graduate students and less than half-time students who need financial aid, Richard A. Kraus, associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said yesterday.

With more and more adults deciding to go back to school, this category of students will grow during the next decade, Kraus said. The administrators debated what amount of support is reasonable for such students and what amount the financial aid program can afford to give them.

Support

The 700 convention members also discussed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's (D-Mass) proposal for expanding the National Direct Student Loan program. Kennedy suggests that loans go from the banks to the parents instead of to the students. Kennedy also proposes that both the bank-to-student loan and the university-to-student loan be consolidated so that debtors can repay them in one series. These measures are designed to decrease the rising number of defaults on student loans.

Elizabeth M. Hicks, associate director of financial aid, said yesterday the members of the conference support the financial aid programs: the Basic Education Opportunity Grant, the Guaranteed Student Loan, the National Direct Student Loan, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants, and the College Work Study Program.

Rep. John Bucanan Jr. (R-Ala.), member of the subcommittee on Post-Secondary Education in the House of Representatives; Rep. William D. Ford (D-Mich.), chairman of the committee; and Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Education, Arts and Humanities and principle author of the Middle Income Student Assistance Act passed last fall.

In Addition

In addition, many staffers from education committees in Congress attended the conference. Topics discussed at the conference will probably be reviewed by Congress during the reauthorization, administrators said.