Watching Money Fly Away...

At a commencement speech on May 19 at Brandeis University, Madeleine K. Albright, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., told the students that graduation is one of the five milestones of their lives.

"The others are birth, marriage, death and the day you finally pay off your student loans," she said

About half of all Harvard seniors will have loans to pay back, and the average senior with loans will be between $15,000 and $20,000 in debt, says Director of Financial Aid James S. Miller.

Seniors say they are not overly concerned about their ability to pay off loans and that their post-graduation plans are not being unduly influenced by their financial responsibilities.

In order to prepare seniors for their post-graduation obligations, the financial aid office requires those graduating with loans to attend exit interviews during which they calculate with financial aid officers exactly what they owe and what that will mean in terms of repayment.

Seniors say that before attending their exit interviews they knew very little about their options or responsibilities for repayment.

Most say they had not been informed about their loans since first-year registration day when they watched a government-mandated video on loan repayment. Few say they had even thought about their loans before they learned they had to attend the exit interview.

Some seniors says they are, in the end, dissatisfied with the exit interview because it did not provide any more information than they could easily have found out on their own.

"It was kind of useless," says Chip Sumner '96, a physics concentrator who plans to continue his studies next year at Cal Tech. "The government puts out a good book, so it seems pointless to go somewhere where the person speaking doesn't know as much as the book."

Others say they were more prepared for their exit interviews, but only because they had taken the time and effort on their own to learn about loan repayment during the previous four years.

Miller says financial aid officers are encouraged to bring up loan payment options whenever possible during meetings with students as financial aid packages are put together.

It is crucial for financial aid officers to discuss loans periodically with students so that they can ensure that the right amount of loans are being taken out by students, Miller says.

"We want to make sure we meet their need, but we don't want to bury them under the debt," he says.

Each student's financial situation is different, based on factors like the income level of the family and post-graduation plans, he says.

Seniors who will work on Wall Street will be able to borrow differently from those who plan to go to graduate school.

Danielle E. Leonard '96 says she had spoken with financial aid officers about her loans but that she had gone out of her way to do so. She says her friends who had not made a conscious effort to find out about their loans were not at all informed about them.

The exit interview focuses on a pamphlet produced by the financial aid office which describes the billing system, payment options, penalties for late payment and ways in which to defer loans.

According to Miller, Harvard and government regulations allow for a great deal of flexibility in payment options. Loans can be consolidated or deferred and, through some programs, even forgiven.

Loan payments can be deferred often without interest, depending on the type of loan. Loans can usually be deferred if a student is enrolled in school, serving in the military or volunteering for an organization like the Peace Corps. Deferments are sometimes available for students looking for work or for those who have just had children.

Almost all loans carry an automatic grace period following graduation during which interest does not accrue. These grace periods usually last six months.

A number of programs allow students who teach in public elementary or high schools in areas the Department of Education classifies as understaffed to defer their loans or eliminate them entirely.

Loan payments usually must be made monthly with minimum payments typically ranging from $15 to $50. Payments are generally geared to eliminate debts within 10 years.

Sumner says plenty of options were described during his interview and that he is not worried about his ability to find a way to repay his loans.

"It seems like they go out of their way to make it easy," Leonard says.

She says the exit interview did have an effect on her, however. She says she had not previously thought a great deal about her repayment obligations and was somewhat daunted by the thought of having to pay off debts for the next 10 years.

Leonard concentrated in social studies at the College and says she plans to go to law school in the future, but she adds that the thought of loans helped crystallize her immediate plans.

"It made me think working a couple of years before law school would be a good idea," Leonard says.