"It sounds like the same levels of funding will be there in the programs we rely on most," says Nan F. Nixon, director of federal relations for the University.

Delays: 'An Irritation'

The shutdowns of the federal government have been more injurious to Harvard's financial aid operation than budget-cutting.

The lack of federal workers has caused a significant backlog in processing for federal grants and loans, says Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs James H. Rowe III '73.

The delay in processing applications and distributing funds has directly affected several students, Miller says.

But the Financial Aid Office has provided funds of its own to cover the missing money until the federal government is able to process all of its aid payments.

"We've been aware of the problems and [have] been able to help the students," Miller says. "So far it's been an irritation and nothing more."

As a substitute for a year-long budget, the government has funded its programs through a series of continuing resolutions. These have resulted in frequent fluctuations in budgeted allocations for education and have confounded planning for educational institutions, Shireman says.

Rowe says this confusion has been problematic for Harvard.

"The bad news has been the continuing resolution rigmarole," Rowe says. "Like many other groups, [educational institutions] have had a hard time getting taken off the table and treated differently."

According to a press release from the office of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.), the current incarnation of the continuing resolution would have meant $3.1 billion in education cuts if it remained in place for the whole year.

Fortunately for Harvard's financial aid efforts, Congress approved a last-minute amendment to the current continuing resolution on Friday. According to Harvard lobbyists, the amendment leaves funding for financial aid programs at either the House's proposed levels for fiscal 1996 or at the same levels they were in the fiscal 1995 budget.

This new continuing resolution means that Harvard will keep virtually all its federal funding for this year, Nixon says.

"Nothing of interest to us has been cut to lower than 75 percent of its fiscal 1995 level," Nixon said.

According to Kennedy's office, many universities will have significant difficulties in providing accurate financial aid packages for their students this spring since they won't know how much federal money they will receive this year.