Working-Class Students

Financial aid, career opportunities and feelings of alienation are the issues that most concerned Harvard's working-class students at the first meeting of Working-Class Students at Harvard, a group formed last year to "bridge the schism between the two worlds of working-class students," last night in Phillips Brooks House.

"It seems as if Harvard and working-class don't go together," Richard Kochenburger '83 told a group of 15 students. He added that many working-class students have to lead a double life, behaving differently here from at home.

Going to Harvard is a step up, he said, "and once you leave home you can never really go back."

Parents' occupation and family background determine whether a student is working-class, Magali Rivera '84 said yesterday.

Six per cent of all white students at Harvard are from working-class backgrounds, while working-class students make up 14 per cent of the Black community, 18 per cent of Hispanic students, and 10 per cent of all Oriental students.

When student loan cutbacks begin to affect enrollment, working-class students "will be the first to go," Rivera, who first decided to form the group, said yesterday. She said than many working-class families are dependent on their children to make ends meet. While working-class parents are proud of their children, it is a greater sacrifice to send them to college than it is for their middle-class counterparts, because it is a breadwinner, not just a dependent, who is leaving home.

Many working-class students feel pressure to choose practical concentrations such as Natural Sciences or Economics because they need to pay back their loans and their families as soon as possible. "My parents really gave me a hard time about it. They didn't understand why I wanted to major in Classics and Folklore and Mythology," a student said.

"Everyone tells me to get a fellowship and travel in the summer. The fact is that they need me too much at home. My brother is resentful enough that I'm away for the school year, let alone the summer," another student said.

Rivera and Kochenburger helped to found the group last spring. They plan to conduct monthly workshops similar to last night's meeting.

The Working-Class Students at Harvard organization also plans to offer peer counseling, tutoring and help with financial aid forms. The program is interviewing students to place them in summer jobs in their hometowns that will benefit their community.

Rivera also plans to set up a seminar to read fiction by and about the working class for the spring semester and to urge working-class students to "tap the extensive resources here."