Frequently Asked Questions

If you have not yet received an email with instructions on how to log in to MyFinaid and complete your Harvard Chan Grant/Scholarship application, first make sure that your SOPHAS application is complete. 

If your SOPHAS is complete, check for an email from Admissions Office with the subject line: Action Required: Harvard Chan School Applicant Credentials and an email from the Financial Aid Office with subject line: Harvard Chan – OFA – MyFinaid Access.

If your SOPHAS application is complete and you still have not received either email, you can expect to receive both of these emails on January 4, 2021.

If you are trying to submit the Harvard Chan Grant/Scholarship Application and are getting the following error message: “System Error, contact your IT department for help… We apologize for the inconvenience. Contact the financial aid office if you still have problems using this application. Thank you for visiting our site.  Error Message: Object reference not set to an instance of an object” please see below:

• • • • The most common reason is that you did not fill out a required (*) question. Even if the answer is “0” you will have to enter that into the form in order to submit. Please double check that all questions are answered.
      • Many applicants are missing this following required question: please be sure you answer it: “Other than your spouse, do you have dependents (i.e. children)? Dependents must live with you and you must provide more than half of of their support. Enter number of dependents.*
      • Another common reason is that the form does not accept apostrophes (‘) so make sure your answers are apostrophe-free before submitting.
      • If you are still having issues, please send a screenshot of the error you are experiencing to our office at financialaid@hsph.harvard.edu and we will be sure to resolve it prior to the deadline of January 8th, 2021.

If you are receiving the following error message when trying to log into MyFinaid: “You are currently not authorized to access this application. Please contact the HUIT Service Desk at 617-495-7777 for assistance,”  send a screen shot of your error message to our office at financialaid@hsph.Harvard.edu. We will work on resolving the issue prior to the Harvard Chan Grant/Scholarship Deadline of January 8, 2021.

If you are receiving the following error message when trying to log in: “Your MFA provider has denied your attempt at second-factor authentication. Contact your system administrator for help in restoring your account” and need help claiming your HarvardKey or are entering invalid login ID and/or password, please contact the IT Helpdesk at helpdesk@hsph.harvard.edu or (617) 432-4357(HELP).

The Harvard Chan Grant/Scholarship Application is a short application that will collect some general information from you. It does not allow for the submission of documents or long text responses.

If you are a domestic student (except MPH-EPI applicants), you will need to submit your financial information through the 2021-22 FAFSA — and financial information is required even if you are not looking for need-based aid (since our grant/scholarships look at a combination of factors).

You do not need to submit parent information on the FAFSA.

If you are an international student or applicant to the MPH-EPI program, you will see questions about your income, savings, and assets on the Harvard Chan Grant/Scholarship Application. No documentation is asked for, but you will need to provide information about your income in 2019 (we use 2019 data because that is what the 2021-2022 FAFSA uses for domestic students).

Master in Health Care Management (MHCM), summer-only degree students, and non-degree students are not eligible to apply for grant/scholarships. Private student loans are a financing option for these students.

PhD programs do not apply for financial aid through our office and should contact the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences with any questions.

Applicants to the joint MPH/JD program should apply through Harvard Law School.

Grant and scholarship awards at the Harvard Chan School are determined on a combination of factors, including both financial need and academic merit. We encourage all applicants to eligible degree programs to complete our grant/scholarship application regardless of your level of financial need. International and domestic students are eligible for the same types of Harvard Chan grant/scholarship funding.

After you have indicated your interest to apply for the Louis and Ida Tatelman award on your Harvard Chan Grant/Scholarship application and have successfully submitted your Harvard Chan Grant/Scholarship application, you should be able to access next steps regarding the Louis and Ida Tatelman award by refreshing your page or by logging out and logging back in. It will be located under your main page or by navigating your menu bar to Documents and Messages.

Domestic students can complete the 2021-2022 FAFSA to be evaluated for federal aid eligibility (unsubsidized loans and/or Federal Work Study), even after the start of their program.

• • The following programs are ineligible for federal aid: the Online/On-Campus MPH-EPI program, the Master in Health Care Management program, and Summer-Only Degrees (MPH 45-credit and SM 42.5-credit), and Non-degree programs.

Federal aid is available in two forms for graduate/professional students:

• • Federal loans
  • Federal Work Study

More details on these programs can be found at the links.

Domestic students include U.S. Citizens, U.S. Permanent Residents, Citizens of Freely Associated States, Refugees, and Persons Granted Asylum.

Our office has information on other Harvard Funding Opportunities with separate applications, as well as External Scholarship Resources. The page on external scholarship also includes tips from a former student on how to go about searching. We have compiled the resources we are aware of, but encourage applicants to do their own searches.

• If you submitted your 2021-2022 FAFSA in the last 3-5 business days, it is likely that our office has not received it yet. You can log in to your Federal Student Aid account to check the status of your submission and verify that you included the correct school code (E00214 – Harvard School of Public Health) in the meantime.
• If it has been more than 3-5 business days, please be aware that our office is closed for Winter Break from 5pm ET on December 18th through 9am ET on January 4th. No FAFSAs are going to be loaded during that time. We recommend following the step above to verify that you selected the correct school code. Please check your MyFinaid after 12pm ET on January 4th for an updated status.