2. Reduced graduate student teaching loads.

The Strauch Committee reported that most students take too long to complete their graduate work, mainly because they are expected to spend large amounts of time teaching undergraduates.

"An overload of teaching can, and frequently does, slow down the completion of the PhD degree excessively," the committee wrote. "The major activities of a graduate student should be scholarship and research, culminating in the writing and completion of the thesis.

"Other activities, such as teaching, should not become the major concern."

Imposing limits on graduate student teaching loads, however would be an expensive proposition Students--who currently depend on teaching stipends would require additional financial aid. At the same time, the Faculty would be forced to hire more professors to replace the lost teaching fellows.

3. Student research grants.

High on the Strauch Committee's wish list is a program of grants to support research by graduate students. The committee proposed the establishment of special "Dissertation Development Grants" to support thesis work by humanities students in particular, who has alternative funding sources.

The committee called on the deans of the Faculty and the graduate school to mount "a major drive" to raise funds for the program.

4. Sustained financial aid.

Unlike the College, the GSAS has no "aid blind" admissions policy. It bases admissions decisions in part on the applicant's financial situation, and it does not promise to make graduate work financially possible for every student who is admitted.

In one of its more fiscally conservative moves; the Strauch Committee endorsed the current policy of admitting only students "who will receive or can demonstrate sufficient financial resources."

The committee also endorsed an existing requirement that financial aid applicants disclose their parents' incomes. That requirement met opposition at a spring Faculty meeting, where some professors argued that parents should not be expected to support their children's graduate study.

On a more liberal note, the committee recommended the retention of so-called merit awards designed to lure top students to Harvard. In addition, it urged that the GSAS continue to guarantee support for second year students at the same level provided in their first year.

The result is a hefty price tag. The Strauch Committee estimated that the GSAS would require a 15 percent real increase in its financial aid budget to maintain its current aid policy--without an increase in the number of students enrolled.

5. Inclusion of graduate students in the undergraduate Houses.