The committee on Fellowships and Other Aids (CFOA) at the GSAS this week moved closer to agreement on general principles for the financial aid plan that will be offered to the incoming graduate class.

The CFOA, which has been meeting since early fall, is attempting to draw up a new financial aid plan that will be presented to the Faculty Council for approval before December.

The plan will be based on the controversial Kraus plan which was introduced last year, Peter S. McKinney, administrative dean of the GSAS, said Thursday. "We thought it was foolish to begin with a new point of view," he said.

McKinney said that in this week's meeting, the CFOA had decided--but not voted on--changes in the Kraus plan that should make it more attractive to both students and departments of the GSAS.

The Kraus plan introduced need-based analysis to replace the traditional method of awarding funds according to a student's academic merit.

The plan met opposition both from students and departments of the GSAS. Students said that the Kraus plan--which only funded to within $1000 of need--did not provide enough support. Department heads said that dropping merit scholarships would severely hamper them in their search for quality students.

McKinney said the committee had determined:

*That a floor on the level of support be decided for every student, so that no student be brought here without some reasonable means of supporting himself.

* That a need-based plan is necessary. Every department would not necessarily have to use need-based funding alone. The Chamistry Department, for example, which has access to outside funds could still use merit scholarships to attract top students. Harvard money, however, would be distributed according to a calculation of need;

* That individual departments be given autonomy in distributing aid; and

* That the number of students--Harvard supported and self-supported--should remain steady over the coming years and that financial aid should be stabilized according to the calculation of the number of students.