As late as the end of October 2002, Alexandra Neuhaus-Follini, originally a member of the class of 2004, thought she would be enrolled in Harvard College for the spring semester.

Neuhaus-Follini says when she began the process of declaring financial independence from her parents last August, administrators assured her that a new, more flexible financial aid policy would soon take effect.

The policy would replace an old set of guidelines that mandated a two-year leave from Harvard for students seeking to have their financial aid package calculated without consideration of their parents’ finances.

But now, five months later, Neuhaus-Follini is still not enrolled—and won’t be until spring 2004. The reason, she says, is a financial aid policy that is still not expansive enough to account for specific situations of financial independence.

She points to a clause that demands that students undergo mediation sessions geared toward reconciliation with their parents.

Unlike most financially independent students, Neuhaus-Follini’s separation from her parents was her own decision and she is not interested in mediation. This, she says, ultimately bars her from financial aid eligibility.

Neuhaus-Follini declined to discuss her reasons for seeking independance from her parents for this article.

“If it wasn’t your choice, then it’s possible that you would want mediation. You might want to reconcile,” she said. “But mediation should be voluntary.”

Financial aid officials, however, say they are doing their best to help independent students secure financial aid—but only after they are sure they’ve done everything possible to try to bring about a reconciliation.

“My hopes are this new policy will make it possible for those very few students who are caught up in really difficult situations to not have to leave the fold of the community,” says Sally C. Donahue, director of financial aid.

But the mediation is an integral part of helping students deal with those difficult situations, Donahue says.

“Sometimes our hope is that, with the help of a trained counselor, the student and his or her parents might be able to move past what might seem like an irreconcilable difference of opinion.”

The University does not want to encourage students to rush into a decision as drastic as separating from their parents, officials say.

“We do recognize that there are always two sides to a conflict and insist that we have the opportunity to have dialogue with the family and the student,” Richard D. Kadison, director of mental health services at University Health Services (UHS), writes in an e-mail. “This is the only way to get a complete picture of the conflict. If the student prefers not to do that, they always have the option of following the existing policy.”

But members of the Undergraduate Council and the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) say students like Neuhaus-Follini could be penalized by the policy.