"I don't know if I owe the IRS anything," says Cullen F. Gerst '93, "but I sure haven't been paying any attention to it."

And that has Harvard administrators worried.

"I think it is very counterproductive to...encourage students to come here and then to turn around and tell them, 'you have to pay these taxes,'" says Seamus P. Malin '62, director of the international students office.

"The volume of revenue to the U.S. is low enough not to justify this," says Malin, a former director of financial aid.

Confusion Over Regulations

The problem is compounded, students say, because their financial aid forms do not show clearly which parts of their college costs they are paying and which parts are being paid by the University.

"As far as I know, financial aid is given out in a block," Yerasi says.

University officials fear that foreign students will be particularly hardhit by the IRS action.

Under current law, colleges are required to with hold 14 percent of scholarship funds for international students and to give that money to the government.

But Malin says foreign students are also more likely to owe taxes in addition to the withheld funds because many are not eligible for the same deductions that American students are.

"It is certainly true that foreign students do not have the benefits, the privileges of resident Americans," Malin says.

Abha Dawesar '95, from New Delhi, India, says she is stumped by a financial aid system that requires her to understand not only American tax laws but their Indian counterparts as well.

"I have not been able to sort out my financial aid matters," says Dawesar, who has her income tax forms but says she has little idea of how to use them.

"I'm really worried and confused about it," says Dawesar, who received $24,000 in grants from Harvard this year. "I'm not sure what are taxes on income and what are taxes on withholding."

But for many students the confusion has only just begun.

Many students are still unaware of the IRS crackdown and of what taxes they may owe. And even those administrators and students otherwise in the know are unsure how the tax law applies to student jobs that, while generating income, are also part of financial aid packages.

Additionally, students who have not paid taxes on their financial aid in the past may find themselves owing the government substantial penalties.

"I just don't know how many kids are affected," says Miller. "I don't know what the level of compliance out there is."