Friday, March 18, 2005
Financial Hindrance
I was talking with a friend the other day about financial aid. He's a first-year law student (1L), married with two kids. He'd like to do something in the public interest arena for the summer, as many 1Ls do (I did). But the Financial Aid office is doing their darndest to make his life miserable, thanks to discriminatory and illogical policies.
HLS is very proud to trumpet its summer public interest funding program. Go ahead and take a job that doesn't pay anything, they say. We'll provide you a stipend that you can live off of for the summer. You won't be as rich as someone who gets a job with a big firm, but you'll be all right. That's exactly what I did. My 1L summer, I went to work for the NEA, and was paid by Harvard, not the NEA. I lived comfortably in a cheap-rent apartment and had enough saved up at the end of the summer to buy Shelly an engagement ring.
But my friend's situation is different. The engagement ring came a long time ago, and now he's got three mouths besides his own to feed. His wife isn't working, of course--how could she with a three-year-old and a baby? If she worked, her salary would need to go to day care expenses.
The problem is that the HLS Financial Aid Office has a policy: A student on the summer public interest funding program gets $6000. That's fine if you're single like I was, but not so great for a family of four to live off for four months. So my friend thought he might just take an extra part-time job on the side. You know, deliver pizza or be a cashier or something, just to get enough money to scrape by with his family.
But here's the catch: The value of any money you earn during the summer is subtracted from the $6000 stipend HLS gives you. That is, if my friend were to earn $3000 over the summer driving a UPS truck, Harvard would only give him $3000. It seems they have decided that $6000 is all the money anyone needs, and no matter what happens, they will not allow a person to earn more than that over the summer (unless you get a job that pays over $6000, in which case, Harvard gives you nothing, and you keep everything you earn--a scenario only possible with a law firm job, which is hard to come by for a 1L).
My friend has talked to the Financial Aid Office and tried to explain that he needs to provide for a toddler, a baby, and a wife. But $6000 is the cap. No exceptions for students with families. The Financial Aid Office does not recognize the difference between the financial needs of one person and those of four people.
To me, this is discriminatory, unfair, illogical, and outrageous. Ideally, the summer funding stipend should be raised according to the number of dependents the student has. If that can't be done (and believe me, it can--this school is literally richer than most countries), they should at least waive the cap provision so that a father can get an extra job on the side so he can stay out of penury.
HLS is very proud to trumpet its summer public interest funding program. Go ahead and take a job that doesn't pay anything, they say. We'll provide you a stipend that you can live off of for the summer. You won't be as rich as someone who gets a job with a big firm, but you'll be all right. That's exactly what I did. My 1L summer, I went to work for the NEA, and was paid by Harvard, not the NEA. I lived comfortably in a cheap-rent apartment and had enough saved up at the end of the summer to buy Shelly an engagement ring.
But my friend's situation is different. The engagement ring came a long time ago, and now he's got three mouths besides his own to feed. His wife isn't working, of course--how could she with a three-year-old and a baby? If she worked, her salary would need to go to day care expenses.
The problem is that the HLS Financial Aid Office has a policy: A student on the summer public interest funding program gets $6000. That's fine if you're single like I was, but not so great for a family of four to live off for four months. So my friend thought he might just take an extra part-time job on the side. You know, deliver pizza or be a cashier or something, just to get enough money to scrape by with his family.
But here's the catch: The value of any money you earn during the summer is subtracted from the $6000 stipend HLS gives you. That is, if my friend were to earn $3000 over the summer driving a UPS truck, Harvard would only give him $3000. It seems they have decided that $6000 is all the money anyone needs, and no matter what happens, they will not allow a person to earn more than that over the summer (unless you get a job that pays over $6000, in which case, Harvard gives you nothing, and you keep everything you earn--a scenario only possible with a law firm job, which is hard to come by for a 1L).
My friend has talked to the Financial Aid Office and tried to explain that he needs to provide for a toddler, a baby, and a wife. But $6000 is the cap. No exceptions for students with families. The Financial Aid Office does not recognize the difference between the financial needs of one person and those of four people.
To me, this is discriminatory, unfair, illogical, and outrageous. Ideally, the summer funding stipend should be raised according to the number of dependents the student has. If that can't be done (and believe me, it can--this school is literally richer than most countries), they should at least waive the cap provision so that a father can get an extra job on the side so he can stay out of penury.
Comments:
I think Harvard's policy is just the opposite of discriminatory; they are treating all students equally. I think it's fantastic that your friend has made the decision to marry, have two kids and attempt law school all at the same time, but to expect HLS to subsidize that decision is ridiculous. What if kids aren't my thing, and I decide to adopt an emu? Can I expect a larger stipend from HLS?
Children are an amazing blessing, but not one without costs, and those costs should be borne primarily by the parents, as they receive the lions share of the blessings.
Children are an amazing blessing, but not one without costs, and those costs should be borne primarily by the parents, as they receive the lions share of the blessings.
I disagree with the first comment. If Harvard's policy were more accommodating to students with families, single students would in no way be disadvantaged. Under the same logic found in the first comment, no one should get tax breaks for multiple dependents. My friend is attending HLS in the fall, and he and his wife had to take that into account when they thought about having a family. Fortunately for me, my future institution (Vanderbilt Law) is much more accommodating for married and non-traditional students.
Well, I'm not so much arguing that Harvard should pay him a larger stipend for summer public interest work because he has three dependents. What chaps my hide is that they cap the total amount he is able to earn over the summer. Like you said, Anonymous, he made the choice to get married and have kids, and he should have to bear the consequences of that decision. But Harvard is taking away his ability to bear the consequences--if he were to take on an extra job, it would not increase his income, because Harvard would give him less.
They should give everyone the same initial stipend and allow those with greater needs to go elsewhere and earn the extra money they need.
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They should give everyone the same initial stipend and allow those with greater needs to go elsewhere and earn the extra money they need.
