Reagan's Budget Plan Draws Criticism

Financial aid and education specialists at Harvard and in Washington said yesterday that President Reagan's proposed budget for 1984 only reappropriates many of the funds in already existing programs and will hurt students, especially in the lower-middle income bracket. The officials added that while they are worried about the possible negative effects the new budget will inflict on Harvard students, the Democratic Congress will probably vote down most of the budget.

"Reagan is basically reshufffling the money around," Charles F. Saunders, vice president for governmental relations of the American Council of Education, a Washington lobbying group, said yesterday.

In the process of reorganizing the funds, the new budget decreases the effectiveness of federal financial aid, said Parker L. Coddington, Harvard's director of governmental relations. "It's an extra-radical assortment of programs, far beyond any modest fine-tuning of alleged areas of abuse."

The budget, unveiled Monday, diverts $600 million from existing financial aid including the Supplementary Grant program and the Direct Loan program. Have the shifted funds are assigned to a restructured Pell Grant program, which raises the maximum grant but also raise the minimum income for eligibility. The program provides direct grants to especially needy students.

The new budget allots the other half of the diverted $600 million to work-study programs.

The new budget also encourages families to set aside up to $1000 a year for college costs in special accounts that would be tax-free on inbterest.

L. Fred Jewett '57, dean of admissions and financial aid, said the new incentive program would be most significant for families who already pay high taxes, and whose tax savings, therefore, would be higher.

Other Proposals

Another change the budget proposes is to require recipients of Guaranteed Student Loans (GLS) to prove need Currently, only families with annual incomes over $30,000 must pass a need test.

The budget also proposes that all graduate students pay a 10 percent start off fee for guaranteed loans, twice the current charge.

One adverse effect Harvard may feel from the proposed changes is a possible delay in preparing aid packages in April Coddington said. Such a delay would come about it the government is slow in making the regulators changes that the budget proposals will require, he explained.

Eligibility Drop

Pointing to another harmful aspect of the new budget, Richard W. Black, assistant director of financial aid, predicted that the number of students eligible for both Pell Grants and GSLs will drop significantly.

If the GSL origination fee doubles for graduate students, "it will be the straw that breaks the camel's back," said Patricia McWade, director of student assisstance in the Graduate School of Art and Sciences (GSAS).

Since the number of outside grants has been steadily decreasing, students at GSAS have been depending more and more on the GSLs, added McWade.

The Flews in the new budgets are not immediately apparent because it does not change the total amount appropriated to financial aid, McWade said.

Pell Grant Changes

In the new Pell Grant program, students would receive as much as $3000 in aid, compared to the current ceiling of $1800. In addition, for the first time, recipients would have to provide 40 percent of college costs or $800--whichever is higher--on top of whatever amount the government determines for their families' contributions.

Students would be expected to make their contributions from work-study jobs, government loans, and summer or part-time employment.

In addition, the family-income maximum to gauge eligibility for the program would drop from $22,000 to $14,000