"I had 40 to 50 sheets of paper and an adding machine on my desk," he said. "I was just working like hell, hoping to get it done. As the day went on, it became clear we wouldn't."

Malin said he alone decided to submit "a clear application" on October 21, thinking HEW officials "would be driven up a wall" if their computers received an application with mathematical errors.

HEW treated Harvard's application as a "short form," both Malin and Jones said yesterday, a form colleges can use if they are requesting nothing more than the local HEW panel approved the year before.

Malin said local HEW officials later told him they would have returned to Harvard a form containing errors, granting additional time to correct the application.

Malin began compiling Harvard's request in only the last days before the HEW deadline. Malin said, because he and other financial aid officials had considered filing a "short form" for 1975-76.

Harvard has its own student loan program and HEW is reluctant to increase work-study funding because it expects Harvard to use repayments on old and private funds to loan money to students.

President Bok said last night he was unaware of any problems with the HEW application