The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has combined its financial aid and admissions offices and has named Richard A. Kraus, former director of GSAS financial aid, as director of financial aid and admissions.

Kraus, the author of the GSAS's controversial financial aid plan of 1974, replaced Nina P. Hillgarth under the realignment made ten days ago.

Hillgarth's responsibilities this year will include overseeing the graduate school's new minority recruiting drive, administering the office of special students, and directing various research assignments affecting the GSAS.

Peter S. McKinney, administrative dean of the GSAS, said that since the inception of the revised Kraus plan, the admissions and financial aid offices have become "so intertwined" that coordinating them into one office was "completely natural."

The GSAS, unlike the College, has a decentralized admissions process, with each department ultimately accepting and rejecting its own candidates. The central office, which Kraus now directs, is responsible for receiving applications and financial aid requests, as well as routing them to the appropriate department.

Under the provisions of the Kraus plan, individual departments and their committees on graduate school admissions rank students for admission on the basis of academic merit. In making decisions on admissions, the departments are permitted to skip over higher-ranked needy students and accept lower-ranked students who are not in need of aid.

In addition to the personnel shuffle, McKinney said, the GSAS is currently reviewing all administrative functions of the newly combined office, to find ways to "smooth out the flow of paper work."

The graduate school is also searching for a new assistant director of admissions, a position that became necessary when the two offices were combined on September 12, McKinney said.

Hillgarth will direct a long-range study this year to determine whether or not there is a correlation between undergraduate grades and performance on a graduate level, McKinney said.

She will also devote time to minority recruiting, a function performed last year by a graduate student.