Accommodation on winter campus is denied, international students look for alternative options | News

Many international students receiving financial aid at Harvard University are struggling to find housing for winter break after the college housing office unexpectedly rejected their housing applications, sparking outrage among students.

More than 280 people signed a petition earlier this week calling on Harvard College to “address Harvard’s winter housing crisis,” and Nathalie A. Milbradt, 26, who serves as co-president of the Woodbridge Society – the The college’s main advocacy group for international students — said it contacted the housing office directly on behalf of the students.

Many of the affected students said they requested winter break accommodations because they could not afford to travel home for the holidays. The students — who come from countries including Brazil, India and Zimbabwe — said their appeals were also rejected by the college, leaving many of them without winter housing for the first time since enrolling at Harvard.

Camilo R. Vasconcelos ’25, an international student from Brazil, said he has been able to easily secure winter housing in the past.

“I never had to appeal, never had to talk to anyone. It was just a very easy and straightforward process,” Vasconcelos said. “You ask for accommodation, you say you are international, you get full financial support and you get it. That’s how it used to be.”

Although Vasconcelos said his financial situation had not changed, both his original application and his later appeal were denied this year.

In an Oct. 3 email to undergraduate students, the Harvard College Housing Office wrote that “international students with demonstrated financial need” are eligible for on-campus housing during the college’s winter break.

But in an email Monday in response to student appeals, the housing office wrote that “an international student receiving only financial aid does not automatically meet the admissions criteria; There must be other special circumstances.”

Several students said this was the first time they had heard of such additional criteria.

“They don’t explain what these circumstances are,” said Antara R. Bhattacharya, 25, who is from India. “I sent them an email asking, ‘What special circumstances?’ and they haven’t contacted me. I just got an automated response saying they’re on Thanksgiving break.”

“Every day I wait, the prices to rebook or buy a flight ticket go up,” Bhattacharya added. “It’s kind of a last-minute thing to get a housing denial. We were all just fidgeting and wondering, ‘Okay, what do we do now?'”

College spokesman Jonathan Palumbo wrote in a statement Wednesday that the administration “remains committed to working with all students to discuss any challenges they may face as they plan for winter break.”

“While we anticipate that students will not remain home during winter break, we understand that some students may need to remain on campus,” Palumbo added. “Only students who meet the admission requirements will be admitted.”

Harvard students have the opportunity to apply for campus housing during two winter breaks, December 12th to January 2nd and January 3rd to January 17th. However, the winter housing application and the Housing Office website state that international students have financial resources. Students who have need are eligible for housing for both Winter Break I and Winter Break II. Almost all students who are for Those who spoke to The Crimson for this article said they were not accepted into either section.

Palumbo did not comment on why international students receiving financial aid appear to be having more difficulty obtaining winter housing this year than in the past.

Vasconcelos and Bhattacharya are among a group of international students who have expressed confusion and frustration over apparent changes to the winter housing application process.

Eight high school students interviewed by The Crimson all said this was the first year their requests to remain on campus over winter break were denied.

João Pedro Rocha Frazão ’26, who was denied winter housing for the first time, said he asked international student group chats who else had been denied and received nearly two dozen answers.

Application for on-campus housing during winter break at Harvard opened on October 3rd, and students received their decisions from the Housing Office on November 15th. Rejected students had until November 18th to appeal and learned the final decision on November 18th. 25.

“Imagine getting a response today, the 25th, and having to buy a ticket for less than a month,” said Milbradt, co-president of the Woodbridge Society. “It will be extremely expensive for students who already receive full funding.”

Palumbo wrote in his statement that while the Financial Aid Office is “not involved in the decision-making process for the winter housing session,” it provides a travel allowance to all students receiving financial aid.

When Nyasha B. Runhare ’27, a student from Zimbabwe, contacted the Financial Aid Office asking for help with “additional financing options, resources, or alternative solutions,” she was told to take out a loan or use her semester funds for the trip .

Bhattacharya also said she contacted the financial aid office, which responded with “some sort of copy-paste email.”

“They responded to me with some kind of copy-paste email saying, ‘Thank you for reaching out, you are eligible to borrow money,'” Bhattacharya said. “I don’t think I should borrow money for something like that.”

In an email from the Financial Aid Office sent to Runhare and reviewed by The Crimson, the office wrote that she was “eligible to borrow up to $1,750 for the fall semester.”

“Please note that a credit toward your spring transportation allowance of approximately $1,975 will be available in mid-January. We may be able to pre-release a small portion of this to cover winter costs, but that would then reduce what is available to you in the spring to cover your costs,” the Financial Aid Office added.

But for some students, the travel allowance is simply not enough to travel home and back to campus.

Bhattacharya said the price for a round-trip ticket to her hometown of Mumbai, India, could reach up to $2,000 during the holiday season. Milbradt estimated that a flight home to Brazil would cost about $1,000 “if you buy in advance.”

Some international students also said that it was stressful to constantly have to communicate their personal financial situation to administrators in order to receive sufficient support.

“It can even be a humiliating situation for some students to have to explain in detail, ‘Okay, my parents make this much money; “I don’t have $1,000 to go back home for a month,” Milbradt said.

Some students said the financial strain could force them to weigh their priorities, including deciding whether to return home for the winter or send their parents to graduation in May.

“I come from a group of high school students who are from Africa, and we are full of need, and many of us are supporting our parents to get to graduation,” said Langelihle “Langa” Siziba ’25, who is from Africa comes from Zimbabwe. “This decision to not provide us with housing feels like we are having to choose between going home or graduating alone and without family.”

When students are denied winter housing, the college revokes their access to residence hall buildings using their Harvard University ID card — but some people said it’s common for students to find a workaround.

“Something similar happened a lot in the summer,” said Siziba. “Essentially you were living on campus illegally with people who were given housing.”

“But right now it looks like there are so few people getting accommodation that it’s not even an option since you can’t even sleep on the floor of a friend’s room,” she added.

Bhattacharya said she started asking friends in the Boston area if she could stay with them over the winter holidays.

“It feels really strange to depend on other people and beg them,” she said.

Rocha said he feels “let down” by the college’s lack of support for winter housing.

“There is no safety net when you need help, you can’t rely on it – and that’s extremely frustrating,” he added.

Milbradt said she expected those whose appeals were rejected Monday to take out loans from the Financial Aid Office, citing the lack of viable alternatives for many international students.

“It’s a whole system that denies the fact that there are low-income students from other countries who don’t have housing,” Milbradt said. “Most international students aren’t really close to the people in the area or don’t have parents or relatives here in the U.S.”

“You don’t have a second option,” she added.

—Staff writer Meghna Mitra contributed reporting.

—Staff writer Rachel Fields can be reached at [email protected].

– Staff Writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @azusalipit or on threads @azusalipit.