“They are the majority, and they have their bill and we have ours,” Kiley said, adding that the Democrats would stand firm on certain positions.

Marrero said that, generally speaking, committee work will entail negotiation.

“The reauthorization process and the committee markup process is for providing an opportunity weigh the pros and cons of the proposals,” Marrero said. “Part of the goal is to look at what will be the best use of federal resources, to look at what will expand college access and be good for student borrowers.”

The competing proposals come at a time when some experts say student debt has reached levels that impose too great a burden on the student borrower. The average student borrower graduates with nearly $20,000 in debt.

Harvard students may be better insulated against the changes in federal policy by the university’s ample resources.

“If the federal program were to be cut substantially and if they were to become less attractive, Harvard students in general have access to a great deal more need-based funding than nationwide,” Donahue said.

The median educational debt for the graduates of the Class of 2004 who took out loans was approximately $8,000. According to Donahue, about 1,500 Harvard undergraduates use federal loans to help finance their education.

Last year, Harvard students borrowed $3.5 million through federal programs, of which $2.1 million was through Perkins Loans rather than the direct lending that is the focus of the Education and Workforce Committee proposals.

Harvard students and their parents borrowed approximately $13 million last year, of which $10.3 million was taken out in parent loans.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.