The Financial Aid Office received guidelines Friday for a new Federal scholarship program which would provide up to $1200 for each needy student to meet the cost of college.

The program, called Basic Educational Opportunity Grants, will cover up to a maximum of 50 per cent of room, board and tuition, based on a family's ability to pay, if funds for the program are budgeted by Congress.

President Nixon has proposed a budget of $959 million for the new program. The administration's proposed budget eliminates most other loan and scholarship programs.

Seamus P. Malin '62, director of the Harvard Financial Aid Office, said yesterday, "This is a great program as long as you don't cut old programs."

Malin said that Congress probably would oppose the elimination of the current programs of loans and grants. He added that he supported the Congressional approach, which he said was a policy of retaining old programs as well as adopting the new grants.

Loans

A qualified student can now obtain up to $1000 in loans in addition to a $1000 grant each year, Malin said. He said that the new program, by eliminating Federal loans, would force more students to borrow money from commercial banks.

Because of repayment problems and lack of credit, students will find it difficult, if not impossible, to find capital in the market, Malin said.

The complicated procedures involved in applying for the new grants could cause difficulties, Malin said. The regulations sent to the Financial Aid Office fill seven closely printed pages of a Federal publication. Application for a grant would involve 23 steps.