Students Press for More Aid

BOSTON--Students from five Massachusetts educational institutions--one Harvard undergraduate among them--told Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D--Mass.) that federal financial aid is essential to their academic careers at a special hearing on the government's role in student aid yesterday.

The hearing was held as Kennedy, chair of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, prepares to push for simplified financial aid forms and more overall money for higher education under the federal Higher Education Act.

At the hearing, held at the Went-worth Institute of Technology in Boston, students testified from the Wentworth Institute, the Butera School of Art, the College of the Holy Cross, Harvard and the University of Massachusetts.

The students, who were joined by representatives from their schools, described their backgrounds and financial hardships. The representatives of the schools said the students were typical of their student populations.

Margarita C. Lam '91 testified from Harvard, along with Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Elizabeth M. Hicks.

Lam, who said her family lives in the South End in Boston, said that Harvard's tuition for one year exceeded the combined income of her parents. She described the aid package that Harvard offered her, consisting of $48,900 in scholarships and grants, $9800 in loans and $5050 in federal work-study funds over four years.

Lam added that her debts incurred by loans have increased through her college years, and she will have to delay pursuing further education.

Each of the students testified that they likely would not be able to attend college without the help of federal aid, and each of them said that the financial aid forms were very complex.

Hicks said the application process was unnecessarily burden-some. One form, she said, has eight pages of instructions and requires 150 data entries for each applicant.

Lam said, though, that she did not find the forms too difficult to fill out, primarily because she had to fill out many forms for her parents, who do not speak English, while she was growing up.

"When I was 15, I was responsible for the purchase of our home" Lam said. "So the forms weren't complex in comparison." Lam said she found the house, arranged its purchase and hired a lawyer to set the mortgage on the home.

Kennedy commended Lam at the hearing, saying that her achievements under such financial hardships were remarkable.