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Patty White, Director of the Financial Aid Office
What
do you most want incoming students to know or understand
about the services you offer?
For
incoming students with federal financial aid, the
beginning of the school year involves:
- Attending
group Loan Entrance Counseling Sessions
- Signing
promissory notes for federal loans (after attending
their entrance counseling session)
- Determining
whether additional or reduced borrowing is needed
- Picking
up loan proceeds – or stipends (depending
on the aid awarded)
- Searching
for and choosing a work study job (or multiple jobs)
- Doing
the paperwork – in the Financial Aid Office-
to begin a work study job (or jobs)
Appointments:
There will be lots of “traffic” in the
Financial Aid Office during the first couple of months
of the school year. A lot of “processing” is
involved in administering the aid available. However,
we also offer students counseling about their
financial aid. We encourage students to make an appointment
with one of our staff members (after reading our
handbook
and web site) if you have questions that have not
been answered in our materials, or new concerns that
have arisen. We will help you sort through your options,
both for the present and with an eye to your future
plans; these options may include additional borrowing,
reducing your loans, adjusting your work study funding,
etc.
The HGSE Fellowship Office:
If you are looking for possible outside support it
is, in general, too late for the current year. However,
the Fellowship Office in Longfellow Room 108, an arm
of the FAO, offers many listings in addition to those
posted on our web site, http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~finaid/fellowoffice.html.
This office is a resource for applicants, continuing
students, and graduating students who anticipate further
studies.
What
are some of the best-kept secrets about the services
you provide?
Our web site, www.gse.harvard.edu/financialaid,
includes a variety of information about loan counseling,
debt management, and as mentioned above, HGSE, Harvard,
and outside fellowships. A wealth of information is
available at the click of a key. For example,
- the Harvard HELP loan, available
to all Harvard students, U.S. citizens and international
students alike is explained on this link, including
the brochure outlining its features:
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~finaid/loans.html#help.
- http://www.gse.harvard.edu/~finaid/loans.html#federal,
gives you access to links to the National Student
Loan Database where you can readily access your
loan history (using your FAFSA PIN#), teacher deferment
and cancellation site, and to the Direct Loan Servicer.
- Upcoming Financial Aid Office deadlines are posted
on the "What's New" section of our web
site.
- Debt Management and Loan Consolidation
Power Point presentations are available.
- A calendar of upcoming deadlines for
major fellowships, listed by semester,
is posted on the fellowships section of our web
site
What
informational meetings, including required meetings,
are held throughout the year and how can they help
students?
- Entrance Meetings, held
at the beginning of the year, are required meetings
for students borrowing federal loans for this year.
- Exit
Meetings, held at the end of the year,
are required meetings for students who have borrowed
federal loans at HGSE.
- Throughout
the year, the financial aid office hosts informational
presentations on topics such as debt management
and loan consolidation.The Fellowship Office advertises
sessions about applying for outside fellowships
(including the Fulbright). Keep an eye on our web
site for these announcements.
What
is your most popular workshop?
The Loan Consolidation Workshop
What
are some of the ways that you assist students during
the school year?
We
work on trouble shooting student’s financial
issues by helping students to identify the most
appropriate
loans (given their debt level, their job prospects,
etc.) and any other possible options. Students
come
in to inquire about additional changes with their
loans (both reductions and increases).
Again, we encourage students to contact us if an emergency
arises, or if unforeseen expenses arise which create
hardship, to sort out what steps to can be taken to
ameliorate the situation.
Important
for students to know about their financial aid:
- Students
should know what agencies hold their loans, what
the interest rates are on their loans, and whether
or not these loans will be accumulating interest
while the student is in school. Most important of
all, they should review their repayment options
to determine what their monthly repayment amounts
will be for the total of the loans they have assumed.
-
Students can expedite their work study paperwork
by coming to the office with the necessary information:
where and how many jobs they will hold, how much
they plan to earn in each job, and how much they
plan to work (per week) in each job- and earn overall
by the end of the year.
To
keep in mind as they approach the end of the school
year:
- Make sure all of your promissory notes
are signed and credited properly towards your student
term bill.
- Be sure to attend an Exit Meeting
to learn about their rights and responsibilities
and repayment options.
- Watch your work-study ceiling!!
You may not exceed your award for the year.
- Consider loan consolidation well before you graduate
or drop to less than half-time. (View our link on
our web site)
Is
the Student Employment Office run by Office of Financial
Aid?
No.
The Harvard SEO is a university-wide office and serves
the entire Harvard campus. The SEO web site, http://www.seo.harvard.edu,
lists job openings both on campus and off campus.
- The
SEO is a resource for ALL Harvard
students, with or without work study funding. Check
it out! Most employers have moved to posting job
listings on this site (in addition to using flyers
around campus.)
- This
is the primary source of listings for work study
positions, but these jobs are also listed on bulletin
boards on campus.
Federal
Work-Study’s relationship to the FAO:
- A
student’s Work Study funding is awarded
by the FAO when his/her eligibility for grant
support
and loans is determined.
- To
activate a Work Study award, students need to come
to the FAO and fill out a referral card with a financial
aid officer.
- To
expedite the process students are asked to calculate
how much they plan to earn and bring in to the FAO
all of the pertinent contact information about their
job and supervisor. (Several hundred students use
work study funding, many at two or more jobs, each
year).
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