Getting a federal grant at Harvard is not an easy matter these days. With an administration in Washington that has not showed a commitment to private education and a Congress that is not as receptive to Harvard as it could be, the University must often grovel with everybody else for a few federal dollars.

Figures for 1973-74, released this week, show that Harvard reeled in $72.5 million from the federal government, still tops in private college funding despite recent hard times and fourth in overall college aid.

Many of those grants, such as the small-time grants to the Faculty, are the results of Harvard's Washington know-how and professorial contacts.

"Some parts of this place are better at hunting than others," Charles U. Daly, vice president for government and community affairs, said yesterday.

But other grants may be the result of a Congress's particular interests. The current Congress's dissatisfaction with the nation's health care is reflected in its large contracts with the University, particularly with the Medical School, which received the bulk of the 1973-74 aid.

"No place can say that federal money isn't life or death for it--not even this one, "Daly said. "We're at the public trough, though at a much less intense degree than others. But shut off that trough and we'd be goddamn hungry."