Ellison doesn't plan to stop working on financial aid any time soon.

"In order to continue to attract the best graduate students to Harvard, we have to offer an adequate amount of support," he says.

Ellison says he hopes to offer full support in the social sciences and humanities within six years. The new package would guarantee coverage of a year of research assistantship and a year of dissertation writing--plans that are currently available only on a competitive basis.

The package would also continue to offer two-year coverage of fellowship and teaching fellowship support.

But Ellison is concerned about more than just financial aid.

Ellison says he would like to see GSAS fully endowed by the next decade. He estimates that GSAS is now 60 percent funded and that $200 or $300 million would need to be raised to make GSAS self-sufficient.

Toward accomplishing that goal, Ellison says he aims to have a plan in place at the academic school year's end for a fundraising campaign that will appeal to a broader audience than GSAS alumni.