Some of the ideas being considered at Harvardare based on Clinton's proposals or on the newact.

For instance, Harvard administrators areinterested in the possibility of income-sensitiveor income-contingent loan repayments. These wouldmean that financial aid decisions, particularly atthe graduate and professional schools would bebased on how much a student can pay aftergraduation, rather than how much the student canpay at the time of enrollment.

A "Low Income Protection Program" is already inplace at Harvard Law School. Sally C. Donahue,director of financial aid at the Law School, saidshe believes that such programs, which tie loanrepayment to income and try to keep the loanpayments affordable, are "the wave of the future."

The problem with income contingent programs isthat students must keep paying off the loans forlong periods of time, and that the programrequires a great deal of administration.

Direct Lending

While much of the intellectual substance of theincome contingent programs comes from Clinton'syet-to-be implemented proposals, the idea ofdirect, federally subsidized lending fromuniversities to students has already beenincorporated into law.

The new federal law establishes a pilot programfor direct lending from Universities to students.This would allow students to get their loans fromHarvard, rather than the government. Harvard hasapplied to be one of the participants in the pilotprogram.

Also in the lending area, Green wants toexplore ways "to use Harvard's AAA credit ratingto lower [interest] rates on student loans."

Debt Levels

With federal financing shifting toward loans,Harvard officials are hoping to keep a close watchon student debt levels and to do everything theycan to keep them low.

"At least on the federal level, loans are goingto be the financial aid vehicle of the '90s,"Miller said. And while well-endowed privatecolleges such as Harvard are able to award moreundergraduate aid in the form of grants, theresult on the graduate level is that studentsarrive with large debts and leave with even largerones.

Donahue said an growing number of law studentsgraduates with debts of more than $75,000.

The capital campaign could decrease some of thedebt burden on students by raising more money forgrants. "I think the issue of indebtedness willcertainly be of concern as we go into the capitalcampaign," Miller said.

Another way to cut debt is to provide moreopportunities for students to work while inschool. The drawback to that is that working cantake away from the time students are able todevote to academic work and extracurricularactivities.

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