Student Resources

Source: https://families.college.harvard.edu/resources Parent: https://families.college.harvard.edu/contact

Harvard students receive support and guidance to transition from high school through college—and beyond.

\ Harvard College sets the standard for residential liberal arts and sciences education. We have committed to creating and sustaining the conditions that enable all Harvard College students to experience an unparalleled educational journey that is intellectually, socially, and personally transformative.

From your student's advising network to their close-knit residential community, your student has access to the variety of diverse resources at Harvard. As a family member, you can support your student by being aware of the College's departments and resources and sharing them with your student when they have a question or need help.

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Intellectual

Registrar's Office

The Registrar’s Office helps students track their course registration status, enroll in courses, and tracks their progress to degree. They process transcripts, diplomas, certificates of enrollment and verify degrees. They maintain the my.harvard Course Catalog, which can be browsed directly or through tools such as Syllabus Explorer (created by the Office of the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning) and Curricle (developed by metaLab at Harvard). The Registrar's Office also provides information about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the rights provided to students with respect to their education records.

Registrar's office website

Academic Calendar

View important Harvard College dates and deadlines, along with scheduled breaks and holidays.

Harvard College Academic Calendar

Academic Resource Center (ARC)

The Academic Resource Center is committed to empowering students to reach their full academic potential in an inclusive and equitable academic environment. Using evidence-based methods and drawing on recent research in learning assistance, the ARC supports Harvard’s students in developing reading strategies, time management skills, and metacognitive approaches to learning. The ARC provides consultations, workshops, academic coaching, peer tutoring, and skills-based resources.

Learn about the ARC

Advising Programs Office (APO)

The Advising Programs Office provides quality academic advising for all undergraduate students. They manage the Peer Advising Fellows program and help connect students to academic and concentration advisers. The APO also produces a guide to all 50 Harvard College concentrations help prepare students to declare a concentration during their sophomore year.

Advising at Harvard

Honor Code

Harvard College is an academic and residential community devoted to learning and the creation of knowledge. We – the academic community of Harvard College, including the faculty and students – view integrity as the basis for intellectual discovery, artistic creation, independent scholarship, and meaningful collaboration. We thus hold honesty – in the representation of our work and in our interactions with teachers, advisers, peers, and students – as the foundation of our community.

Review the Honor Code

Harvard College Writing Center

The Writing Center, part of the Harvard College Writing Program, is a place for Harvard undergraduates to get help with any aspect of their writing, from specific assignments to general writing skills. The Writing Center is staffed by trained undergraduate tutors who provide individual conferences to students working on any writing assignment. Students don't have to have a finished paper to come for a conference. They can come with ideas, notes, or a draft.

Learn about the writing center

Harvard Library Study Space Finder

Students can use the Find a Space app to browse library spaces across campus — from the perfect open space for studying to group work rooms and more. Students can filter spaces by features like noise level, furniture type, or locker availability.

Browse study spaces

Faculty/Student Engagement

One of the great opportunities of studying at Harvard is developing relationships with faculty members. The Dean of Students Office and Office of Undergraduate Education host a variety of programs to help students connect with faculty outside of the classroom including Classroom to Table, Academic Life Workshops, Faculty Luncheons, Gober Family Uncommon Fare Dinner Series, and First-Year Faculty-Student Dinners.

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Residential Community

The residential system creates vibrant, unique, and supportive communities where students can unwind after a busy day and feel at home. Whether your student lives in a dorm, one of the Houses, or off-campus, Harvard has communities and staff available to support them.

Learn about living at Harvard

Student Organizations

The College offers over 450 student organizations and Recognized Social Organizations for students to join. A list of organizations and student leaders is available to students in TheHUB for Student Involvement. During the first week of classes, the Dean of Students Office hosts the Student Involvement Fair, where students can learn more about all of the organizations.

Browse student organizations

SOCO

SOCO contains everything your student needs to find upcoming events and managing their student organization. They can use it to connect with student groups, find events organized by students, and track their involvement while they are at Harvard.

Visit SOCO

Student Activities

From programs specifically for first-year students, to leadership opportunities, the Dean of Students offers a variety of activities that enhance student life.

Learn about Student Activities

Office of International Education

The Office of International Education (OIE) works with undergraduate students who are planning for a significant academic year, term, or summer international experience. We work with students to research and plan for their time abroad, provide support during their international experience, and ensure that their re-entry process goes smoothly.

Discovery international opportunities

Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship

Today, Phillips Brooks House is a vibrant and growing department offering curricular and co-curricular programs to prepare Harvard College students with the knowledge and tools needed to meet the challenges facing our society. Through coursework, volunteerism, community activism and pre-professional experiences, we offer multiple pathways for students to engage in public service.

Learn about public service opportunities

Office of Culture and Community

The Office of Culture & Community recognizes the wide spectrum of life experiences present within our community and seeks to build bridges across the multitude of perspectives. We facilitate the forging of connections that will ultimately create deeper and more meaningful understanding across the myriad of individuals who belong to Harvard’s network. By reinforcing these bonds and uplifting the importance of intentional engagement, we enhance the foundation of each person’s intellectual framework.

Driven by our commitment to recognizing and uplifting the individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work of each student, we celebrate their vital contributions as foundational in the development of our vibrant community through advising, training, programming, and partnership. We aim to affirm the rights of each student to benefit from the resources that this institution provides and establish connections that will serve them as they go out into the world as citizen leaders.

Learn about the Office of Culture and Community

Office for the Arts

The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA) supports student engagement in the arts and integrates the arts into University life. Through its programs and services, the OFA teaches and mentors, fosters student art making, connects students to accomplished artists, commissions new work, and partners with local, national, and international constituencies. By supporting the development of students as artists and cultural stewards, the OFA works to enrich society and shape communities in which the arts are a vital part of life.

Learn about the arts at Harvard

Athletics

As the largest Division I athletics program in the country, Harvard provides broad-based programming and the opportunity to learn life-lessons through participation in both competitive and recreational activities.

Harvard Athletics

Club Sports

Club sports are formed by groups of undergraduates who share a common interest in recreation and sport, together organizing and collectively pursuing their chosen activities.  It offers the opportunity for participants to engage in and derive the pleasures and benefits of athletic and/or recreational activities.  It is a student-initiated activity that relies on the students to be responsible for leadership, decision-making, organization, and supervision of all club actions.  Clubs are organized on instruction, recreational, and competitive levels and their activities range from informal play and practice to intercollegiate and tournament competition.  Club sports are open to those with Harvard University affiliation including undergraduates, graduates, faculty/staff, and alumni.

Learn about Club Sports

Intramurals

The Harvard Athletics House Intramural program is offered to all students who live within the House system. First-year students can participate through the First-Year Intramural Program through the dorms.

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Financial Aid

The Griffin Financial Aid Office will work closely with you and your family to determine your demonstrated need and your family’s expected contribution. For many families, this is between zero and 10 percent of family income. Because everyone's circumstances are unique, it's difficult to summarize the many financial aid options and policies that exist. The simplest way to put it is this: We want to make Harvard accessible and affordable for everyone who gets in—no matter what.

Learn how financial aid works

Student Banking

Harvard College students get the best financial services at their very own Credit Union. The Harvard University Credit Union’s College Life Account features loads of great perks and services.

Student Banking options

First-Year Guide

The Guide to the First-Year for Students and Their Families provides an overview of everything incoming students needs to know to get started at Harvard College including information about the curriculum, what to pack, and much more. This publication is shared with students and families every July.

Learn about the First-Year Guide

Student Handbook

The Harvard College Handbook for Students contains a concise review of the rules and procedures of Harvard College with which students are expected to be familiar. Included are the specific requirements for the AB and SB degrees and both basic and honors requirements for each of the fields of concentration. Also included is information on a number of the services, programs, and organizations that have been created to bring assistance and enrichment to a student's undergraduate experience.

Review the student handbook

Disability Access Office

Harvard University is committed to building a diverse and inclusive community, which includes providing equal access to all students. The Disability Access Office (DAO) determines accommodations for students with disabilities and ensures legal compliance with non-discrimination for students with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990, and Amendments Act of 2008). DAO works in collaboration with Harvard faculty, students, and staff to create equitable educational experiences through the promotion of universal design in learning, reasonable accommodations in inaccessible environments, and the reframing of disability as a valued aspect of the human experience.

Disability Access Office resources

Wintersession Programs

Wintersession takes place annually during the last week of Winter Break. Programs are offered by faculty, staff and students and range in length from one hour to one week. You can choose from over 20 subject areas such as arts, athletics, health and wellness, career services, and alumni networking. Program types range from recreational to intensive introspection, training, or learning.

Discover Wintersession Programs

College Title IX

Harvard University has designated Title IX Coordinators throughout the University to help address issues of sexual and gender-based harassment within their specific unit or school. Harvard College’s Title IX Coordinators for students play an integral role in ensuring that all students have access to the myriad resources and opportunities that Harvard College has to offer, both in and outside the classroom, recognizing that this access is critical to facilitating the intellectual, social, and personal transformations that a liberal arts and sciences education has to offer.

College Title IX Coordinators

Office for Community Support, Non-Discrimination, Rights and Responsibilities (CSNDR)

The Office of Sexual Assault Prevention & Response is a confidential space open to the entire Harvard community where people can process and understand their experiences and feel empowered to make the choice best suited to their needs. Every staff member is a certified rape-crisis counselor, committed to the just and compassionate treatment of survivors and their friends, peers, significant others, and allies. We foster collaborative relationships between campus and community systems to ensure a survivor-centered, multi-faceted approach to advocacy services and primary prevention.

Learn about CSNDR

Office of Career Services (OCS)

The Office of Career Services is dedicated to educating, advising, and connecting students to opportunities for summer and post-graduation in order to foster their intellectual, social, and personal transformations.

Explore OCS resources

Student Employment Office (SEO)

The Student Employment Office works with faculty, the community, and all University departments to create term-time and summer employment opportunities for students. As part of the Financial Aid Office, we administer the Federal Work Study Program university-wide and also provide undergraduate students with funding to pursue their own academic interests outside of the classroom through the Faculty Aide Program. The SEO is a resource for job-seeking students and hosts an online jobs database accessible to enrolled Harvard graduate and undergraduate students, as well as, degree-seeking candidates at the School of Continuing Education.

Student employment at Harvard

Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS)

HUDS nourishes and supports the students, faculty, staff and guests of Harvard by creating experiences that foster friendship, encourage learning, and cultivate community. HUDS makes every effort to accommodate the various dietary requirements of their guests whether your student has food allergies or special dietary needs. Favorite family recipes can never be exactly reproduced, but HUDS will pay homage to those nostalgic favorites when you submit recipes online for execution during Recipes from Home month in March. Some favorites are so popular they even make the permanent menu!

Learn about dining at Harvard

Harvard University Health Services (HUHS)

Harvard University Health Services is a multi-specialty medical practice exclusively for members of the Harvard community—students, faculty, staff, eligible post-docs, retirees, and their dependents. Harvard University Health Services clinicians provide confidential, personal care for each patient.

View list of services

Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

CAMHS is a dedicated group of clinicians – licensed mental health clinicians, nurse prescribers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers who have chosen to work in university mental health because we know how important it is to support student emotional health and well-being. They have a passion for working with Harvard students of all ages, degree programs, and diverse life circumstances and cultures. Their goal is to provide a safe, confidential environment to help students help themselves. They represent many cultures, races, ethnic backgrounds, first generation, speak non-English languages, and have histories of various academic and life circumstances.

Learn about CAMHS

Center for Wellness and Health Promotion

The Center for Wellness and Health Promotion cultivates individual and collective wellbeing through holistic educational experiences. They offer a wide range of workshops, services, and classes available to all Harvard community members. Students can schedule a massage or acupuncture appointment or try one of their exercise, meditation, or yoga classes.

Learn about Wellness at Harvard

Harvard University Police Department (HUPD)

The HUPD is a full-service police department (comprising a Patrol Division, Criminal Investigation Division, and Dignitary Protection Unit) that includes police officers, detectives, civilian communication dispatchers, and support and administrative personnel. Some core functions of the Department are: responding to criminal incidents; checking on the well-being of students, faculty, and staff; responding to disturbances; providing escorts; taking reports of lost and stolen property; responding to lockouts; investigating suspicious activity; responding to alarms; and investigating trespassers or unwanted guests.

Learn about HUPD

Harvard International Office (HIO)

HIO offers services to international students and scholars at Harvard College, the graduate and professional schools, as well as the numerous research centers and affiliated teaching hospitals, to minimize the difficulties they may experience both upon arrival and later during their stay at Harvard. HIO provides information on a wide range of topics, including immigration issues (work permits, travel), financial questions, social and cultural differences, and resources at Harvard and in the community.

Learn about HIO

Recreation

Undergraduate students are eligible to use the facilities for free during the academic year provided they are currently enrolled in Harvard College.

Learn about our facilities

Office for Sustainability (OFS)

The OFS strives to build an inclusive community that contributes to the inter-generational well-being of people and the planet. Their mission is to advance solutions to evolving global health and environmental challenges that benefit the common good by translating research into practice and empowering people to be stewards for the future.

Sustainability at Harvard

Harvard College Parent and Family Guide

As the parent of a Harvard College student, you may have many questions about your student's education, residential life, or overall experience. We hope the information on these pages serves as a useful resource for you throughout your student's journey.