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Housing Problems at Harvard -----------I got married during my sophomore year at Harvard. Even without adding a child to the mix, this caused serious problems. I was on almost complete financial aid (I think before that point, I paid around $1000/year for tuition/room and board). This was around the middle of the academic year -- my husband and I lived apart until the following fall, when he started grad school in the area. -----------During that one year, I was told by the Senior Tutor of my house (university housing) that he could not visit me there, because it would be inappropriate to have conjugal visits, and unfair to my roommates. This despite the fact that I had my own private bedroom in a 4-person suite, and that my roommates had not complained. I'm still not sure what she was thinking -- that undergrads were generally not having sex in the dorms? And having other visitors was always fine. ------------Subsequently, I had to move out of university housing. As you already describe on your website, I was neither allowed in undergraduate housing or in graduate housing, so I had to move off campus. As you also note, this was financially ruinous -- especially given my situation, where I was already on almost full financial aid. I did get checks from the university each semester for the difference between my total financial aid package and tuition, this difference to be applied toward my off-campus housing costs. Obviously it was insufficient, and also the check was never once issued on time. For each of the four semesters that I got it, I had to go to the office that issued it multiple times until they would finally disburse it. -------------Whew. I am now in graduate school at MIT and had a baby in July. This was only months after MIT introduced its first parental leave policy for graduate students. Before that, the only way to have any leave was to go officially on leave from the university, resulting in loss of university housing if you had it, and also loss of health insurance coverage from the university. Obviously one doesn't want to lose health care immediately postpartum for oneself and the baby! But it is great progress to have the new system in place, even if amazing that it took so long. Thanks again for your efforts and best wishes, Mary Ann Walter Dept of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT  home / guide to colleges / site map copyright by Katherine Arnoldi Contact us to submit stories about your experiences at college as a mom and to share information about the accessibility of your school contact: equalrightsformoms@yahoo.com

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