Money doesn't actually talk. We do.

Ask not what you can do for loans…

We’ve mused about angry alumni who aren’t reaping the benefits of their alma maters’ new-found financial aid generosity, but what if you still don’t get any financial aid love as a fresh applicant?

That’s what happened to Erin O’Connor, Critical Mass blogger and admitted student to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In her open letter, O’Conner writes:

A few weeks ago, I received the wonderful news that I have been accepted to study at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (KSG), but my initial euphoria was soon stamped out as a second KSG email arrived announcing that I would only be offered loans as financial “aid.” KSG suggests that I take out more than $130,000 in loans to pay for my two-year Master’s program. $130,000? I want to attend KSG to get the best possible preparation to enter the public sector. How am I supposed to work in the public sector strapped with $130,000+ of education debt? Being accepted to KSG has turned out to be a pyrrhic achievement indeed.

O’Conner was accepted as a graduate student, not an undergraduate, therefore is not eligible for all of the tuition cuts that have received so much attention lately. She points out that with interest rates, $130,000 would balloon to $350,000 over thirty years and says that up to three-fourths of admitted K-school students face a similar dilemma. And Harvard isn’t the only institution with eye-popping high tuition.

O’Conner’s letter puts out some harsh financial-aid fighting’ words. So we called up the folks at Harvard’s Kennedy School for comment.

“Basically the kind of debt this student describes is not typical, but it is not unheard of” Melodie Jackson, the Associate Dean for Communications & Public said.

Jackson cited the numerous options for tackling such large loans, one of the most popular being the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) that offers K-school graduates who take jobs in the public or private sector (and make less than $60,000 individually or $80,000 as a couple) tax-free funds to help alumni repay loans for five years. Jackson guesstimates that around 20 percent of Kennedy School alumni participate in the program and says that over $2 million dollars have been paid by the university toward loans since LRAP started.

In addition, there’s the typical potpourri of fellowships, grants, low-interest loans and work-study options for students swamped by the cost of education.

Although Harvard’s different colleges maintain separate endowments, the Kennedy School endowment is a cool $1 billion dollars. This year they increased financial aid by more than $1 million and sans cost-of-living salary adjustments have kept tuition at the same price for five years. As easy as it is to demonize financial aid offices (and sometimes they deserve it) it’s worth noting that it’s not in the university’s best interest to have an alumni-base laden with debt. They want you to be productive members of society and pass the savings on via alumni checks soon.

But O’Conner’s letter raises the broader issue of what if your graduate school doesn’t have $1 billion behind it and is making little, if any, progress toward making school affordable? Or what if the government is still fumbling to figure out financing? A craptastic job market? Student loan lenders dropping like flies?

Keep those torches and pitchforks poised to the sky, hopeful students.

-Mary Pilon