HLS Student Government

We have heard some concerns lately about international students finding it more difficult to secure funding for their HLS education, so we looked into it a bit to see what we could find out.

First and foremost, if you have any financial aid concerns, Student Financial Services should be your first stop.  They are ready and willing to work with everyone to come up with answers that work as best as possible for each person’s unique situation.  Additionally, as prospective interim acting Dean Jackson said during his town hall meeting, Harvard University is currently working with JP Morgan to ensure international students have access to loans similar to that which they had before the current financial crisis.

All that being said, here is a little bit of information for those of you that are interested in understand how and why the international students have been uniquely affected by the crisis.  The issue is arrising because HLS had a unique program in partnership with a private bank that allowed international students to borrow from a US bank.  Unfortunately, in this economy, the program was cancelled by the private bank last semester.  Since that time, Harvard has been working to secure a new banking arrangement.  This program is still being worked on, but at this time (and according to yesterday’s town hall, this may be changing), international students have two options, one, to secure funding from one of their home country banks, or two, borrow from a US bank with a a US co-applicant.  Again, let us reiterate, students facing these concerns should work with SFS, who is happy to help you work through your concerns.  This post is not meant to serve in an advisatory capacity, only an informative one.

One more note, according to a Harvard Crimson article, there may be some other funding coming in to help international students.  See here: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?r…

As always, any thoughts are welcome.

Brian