Last week, the Washington Post published an article on how students at Ivy League schools (particularly Columbia) on full need-based scholarships often struggle to pay for social excursions, textbooks, bills, and even meal plans. I grew up in Yonkers, a suburb of New York City; I can attest to how much more things such as food and movie tickets cost in the city, even though Yonkers shares a border with the Bronx. However, I've never lived in New York City proper, so the totality of that experience is probably lost on me. For the past nine months, though, I have lived in Cambridge as a Harvard freshman; on this I can speak with some knowledge (though not with as much as a graduating senior would have). In the interest of full disclosure: I'm at Harvard on a full need-based scholarship.
The Washington Post article relates how some Columbia students reduce the amount of food they can get with their meal plan so they can save money. Harvard, it appears, has taken steps to preempt this scenario. All students receive an unlimited meal plan: it is the time when meals are served, rather than how many meals to which a student is entitled, that might be a problem. Unlike some other schools, whose dining halls continuously serve food from opening to closing, Harvard's dining halls serve hot food only during meal times, though some food and drink is available between meals.
The cost of food becomes problematic when one wants to eat outside the dining halls. On campus, there are a number of cafes and two pubs operated and/or managed by Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS), as well as a student-run cafe in Dudley House in Lehman Hall. Food at these locations is not terribly expensive; however, prices can escalate quickly when one wishes to make a full meal out of these offerings (two slices of pizza and a soda cost $6.89 at the Greenhouse Cafe). The cost of food at these eateries is somewhat offset by Board Plus, a part of the undergraduate dining plan. In a nutshell: students receive $65 pre-loaded onto their ID cards they can use at any of Harvard's cafes, grilles, pubs, and dining halls (for guest meals). This is a nontrivial amount, but it only adds up to three dinners at a dining hall for friends (dinner costs $18.75 for guests).
Funding social excursions is somewhat more complex. Student organizations will often host parties and other events, some of which are free. An organization can only hold so many free events when it has to meet its operating expenses, however. Leaving Harvard for events at other colleges or otherwise tends to be more expensive--if not because of the cost of tickets, then because of the cost of transportation. Getting to events is usually no problem: the subway costs $2.10 with a Charlie Card and $2.60 without one. But the subway shuts down before 1:00 a.m., meaning students often have to use Uber or some other app to get home, or else leave events early.
To an extent, buying food and paying for social events in this manner is optional at Harvard: there are enough free and low-cost options that one doesn't miss too much if they don't want to pay too much for these things. That luxury isn't as apparent when it comes to buying books for classes, which can cost hundreds of dollars, depending on the classes. Books can and often are bought used or rented from the Harvard COOP (the bookstore; note that The Harvard Bookstore is not the Harvard bookstore) or from other students. They can also be borrowed from the library for four weeks and then renewed, unless they are recalled; these textbooks are usually the previous edition, and the libraries often have only one or two copies that can be taken out from the library. Students have been known to make photocopies of books rather than buy them, or else rely on friends who have the required books. Fortunately, the textbooks listed in syllabuses aren't always required, even when they are listed as such; and some professors will put course readings on the course website.
During term time, students without much money can manage to get by. This changes, however, when students are on campus when class is not in session. During Senior Week and Commencement Week, for example, most dining halls are closed. Those which remain open are open only to seniors, with very few exceptions (essentially, only if Harvard has required you to remain on campus for one of your extracurricular activities does it give you just one meal a day). These exceptions do not include students working with Harvard Dorm Crew for Spring Clean-Up, which entails preparing dorms for alumni reunions and (after Commencement) Harvard Summer School, as well as helping with the set-up and breakdown of Commencement. Students work Spring Clean-Up because they need the money, with few exceptions: I would not be cleaning up after my peers, some of whom left their suites in an awful state, for 40 hours last week if I was not being paid $13.00 an hour to do it. This makes it particularly egregious that said students do not receive food stipends of any kind, even though they are well-compensated--checks take time to process, so it can take two weeks before students see any of the money. Some dining halls allow students to eat despite these restrictions, but all students, seniors or otherwise, are out of luck when all dining halls close at the end of Senior Week.
It is inherently problematic that Harvard requires students on campus to find their own food at any point, especially because there are students who cannot afford to do so, and those students most likely attend Harvard because of its generous financial aid. (Students whose families' annual income is less than $65,000 are not expected to contribute to the cost of tuition or room and board.) By closing dining halls, Harvard is assuming students will be able to get food on their own (as well as being stingy). It's possible that freshmen working Spring Clean-Up next year won't be in the same scenario as I am in right now: starting in the fall, Harvard will give freshmen on full scholarships grants totaling $2000 to help offset the cost of freshman year (I would like mine retroactively). But the fact that Harvard students ever had to worry at any point about how they would eat shows how far the University has to go in meaning the Harvard experience comfortable for students who aren't as well off as their peers.
