Fill an Unfair Gap

ANEWLY ANNOUNCED law denying federal financial aid to students who have not registered for the draft will soon force the University to make a delicate decision--whether to protect students from this unwise statute by replacing the lost funds with Harvard's money. When the regulations go into effect for the '83-'84 academic year, students who have not registered will be ineligible for for Federal aid programs such as Guaranteed Student Loans. Pell Grants, work-study, and other forms of student assistance.

It is essential that Harvard view the new regulation as the unfair and arbitrary measure it is. Draft registration itself has been problematic from the start, both philosophically and practically. It is extremely doubtful whether the whole concept has ever been more than meaningless saber rattling. serving only to make an actual war more conceivable. Worse, the selective enforcement of the law so far has underscored the typically arbitrary prosecution of nonregistrants.

So it is no surprise that this latest attempt to penalize nonregistrants is equally arbitrary. The major problem with the new regulation is that it will punish only those students who must rely on federal aid and will not affect more affluent nonregistrants, on whom the government cannot use the student aid level

Another difficulty with the statute is its inappropriate use of universities for law enforcement It is not the role of colleges to monitor compliance with registration a duty that is reminiscent of previous misguided links between higher education and the Selective Service System Besides, college admissions and financial and offices should not have to deal with paperwork the regulation may require. in some cases. such paperwork could delay needed funds for registrants as they await confirmation from the government

Harvard can do little to keep the regulation from becoming law, other than using the next three weeks of public comment period to speak out against it Officials say the regulation is a fait accompli.

But a positive step, and one which other colleges have taken, would be to guarantee in-house loans or grants to the nonregistered students whom the law would affect. It is up to the University, now discussing its response to the law, to fill the financial void. By supplying such funds. Harvard need not make a political statement against registration; it would merely reaffirm its current policy of supplying all aid a student needs, regardless of how much of that money comes from outside sources.

All colleges and universities will eventually have to face the issue, but only a handful so far have announced their plans. Yale has already offered what could be an effective alternative to restricted federal aid, announcing that in November it would make up all grants and loans to nonregistrants--an estimated 100 to 200 students However. Yale would issue its loans at a higher interest rate and would cost students approximately an extra $3000 for four years.

Although Columbia and Pennsylvania have announced that they do not have the resources to replace the federal funds directly. Harvard has such resources. Using them is the fairest way for the University to take the sting out of the government's unfair new policy.