There will be more undergraduates on the field than in the stands for the upcoming football game against Dartmouth if the administration's current ticket selling policy stands.

Less than an hour before last evening's 5 p.m. deadline for submitting ticket exchange coupous to the Harvard Ticket Office, only nine tickets had been requested, according to Ticket Manager Edward J. Carey Jr. '55.

"Response has been next to nothing," Carey said.

He said he did not expect a surge in sales in the final hour. "There's going to be little if any [additional] response at all," he said.

Despite low undergraduate orders, Soldiers Field will not be completely barren.

The Dartmouth Game coincides with Freshman Parents' Weekend. Parents, alumni and Dartmouth fans should combine to fill 15,000 of the 30,898 seats "if we're lucky," Carey said.

While most home games are free of charge to undergraduates, the Dartmouth and Yale games have traditionally involved an attendance fee and an application process, according to Carey.

Under this system, students send a stub from their Department of Athletics coupon book and a check to the ticket office in envelopes available in the upperclass houses and the Union.

The policy allows students to bundle their ticket requests in groups of 10 to ensure adjoining seating.

According to Carey, if current rules are followed, students wishing to attend the game would have to pay the full $15 ticket fee at game time.

This policy, however, is being reconsidered, Carey said.

"A rethinking of the Dartmouth coupon is under serious discussion, and by Monday we will have made a determination," he said.

"We want students at the game. We don't want a seven-dollar coupon deterring them," he added.

The low interest seems to be the result of a combination of student ignorance of the application process and apathy toward the football team, Carey said.

"A lot of them don't know about it. A lot of them don't really care," Carey said, adding that students are not to blame for low ticket sales.

Undergraduate Council vice presidential candidate Rudd W. Coffey '97, who served as Harvard's mascot at the Yale game last year, said he agreed.

"I'm a person who stays up to date on things like this, and I had no idea," he said. "Most Harvard students would be unaware."

Reasons for attending the game varied among the nine students.

"I didn't even think about going until someone called me and asked me if I wanted to go," Joshua A. Gluck '98 said.

Kim R. Walberg '96 cited "ulterior motives" for her decision to purchase tickets. She wanted to be sure that she had tickets for her boyfriend, who was graduated last year and will be at Harvard for the weekend.

School spirit was once reason enough to attend, according to Carey.

"If you go back to the '50s, you couldn't get a ticket for this game," he said. "Granted that's 40 years ago, but it's been diminishing over the past 10 to 15 years to the point where we are now."

Carey said he still believes considerable spirit exists on campus.

"The hockey rink is always full." he said. "They wait on line out here on coupon day."

Luckily, The Game still remains.

"We've had a lot of inquiry about the Yale game," Carey said.

Application envelopes for tickets to the Yale game will be distributed this Monday through Wednesday. They are due in the basement of Harvard Hall at 5 p.m. on October 20.

Students will pay a reduced rate of $12 but will still have to endure New Haven