Resources for Incoming Scholars & Fellows

Visiting Scholars (Faculty Members, Researchers, all non-graduate students):
Visiting Scholars are responsible for purchasing their own health insurance. If you are financially supported by the Institute, fellowship support for your individual health insurance plan will be provided by HYI. We recommend that you review the Harvard International Office pages on health insurance options.

Visiting Fellows (Graduate Students): If you are financially supported by the Institute, we will provide you with medical insurance through University Health Services (UHS).

The Institute does not provide medical insurance for family members.

Visiting Scholars:

The letter you received from the Harvard-Yenching Institute offering a fellowship grant (financial support) notes that your grant consists of the following:

1. Stipend (distributed in monthly payments): Beginning in August, you will receive a monthly stipend check.
2. Health insurance up to the amount of $5,500
3. Round-trip Airfare (Economy class)

Visiting Fellows:

The letter you received from the Harvard-Yenching Institute offering a fellowship grant (financial support) notes that your grant consists of the following:

1. Stipend (distributed in monthly payments): Beginning in August, you will receive a monthly stipend check.
2. Tuition and fees (including health insurance): As a Visiting Fellow, you will be charged for tuition and fees. HYI will cover tuition and fees (including health insurance) as part of your fellowship. This payment happens automatically; you do not need to do anything. Do not make any payments for tuition and fees.
3. Round-trip Airfare (Economy class)

Your monthly stipend is subject to a 14% US Federal tax. If you are from a non-tax treaty region or country, your stipend will be taxed for the duration of your stay. Your monthly stipend will be reduced by 14%.

You may be eligible for a tax treaty if you are from certain countries, but in order to implement the treaty exemption, you will need to complete paperwork after your arrival to determine your eligibility. This means that your first and second stipend checks will have taxes withheld.

The Harvard-Yenching Institute covers your round trip airfare (economy class). It is fine to book a one-way ticket or, if you are certain of your return date, to book a round-trip ticket. Please go ahead and purchase the flight ticket on your own. The Institute will reimburse you for the expense when you arrive. Please be sure to keep the receipt and submit it to HYI after you arrive.

The Institute will provide you with a fellowship for your airfare and SEVIS fee after your arrival.

The Harvard University Housing office offers housing and real estate services to many University affiliates, including HYI scholars and fellows.

Visiting Fellows (graduate students) will receive information about on-campus dormitories from GSAS (the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences).

Harvard University Housing has also compiled a list of Other Housing Resources, including additional housing options both at Harvard and in the private market.

If you choose to send your child to a public school, where they go will typically depend on the address you choose to reside in during your year at HYI. As this is a personal decision, we, the HYI staff, don’t have the authority to recommend a specific school district to our scholars. However, we do understand the desire to find a school system that will best support your child’s education. This is one situation where we recommend you connect with some of our current, outgoing Visiting Scholars. They may be willing to share some of their personal experiences with deciding on a district to live in.

A good starting place would be to look over the HIO’s childcare and schooling section of their website.

Under special circumstances, the Institute may be able to provide a few nights of free accommodation at a local bed and breakfast facility. If you have not been able to find long-term housing before your arrival, HYI will try to arrange a few nights of stay at a local bed & breakfast upon your arrival, but please inform us as early as possible if you need temporary housing services. To request temporary housing, please email James (if you are a Visiting Fellow) or Francesca (if you are a Visiting Scholar).

The Harvard-Yenching Institute will host orientation for all incoming affiliates, typically around the last week of August. It is required that all new affiliates attend this important first event. Please arrange your itinerary accordingly so you will be able to attend all orientation week events.

Orientation will consist of a combination of important informational meetings, introductions to some of Harvard’s resources and members of the Harvard community, and sightseeing to get to know Cambridge and Boston. The first day will include an outing and luncheon that your families will be invited to join. Further details about orientation will be sent to you in June.

Each affiliate will have one desk and a set of shelves in an office which will be shared with up to 5 people. Depending on the size of the HYI cohort in your year, you may share the office space with less people. The HYI does not provide personal computers, as most affiliates bring laptops of their own. Both of our office spaces have communal areas in which you can socialize with your colleagues, and public printers / copy machines.

Permission from the Associate Director is mandatory if you will be absent from your local residence at any time for a period longer than nine days. The only exception is that permission is not required if you are planning to be absent during the holiday break (approximately two weeks) when the Institute and the University are closed for the winter holidays. However, you must receive permission from the Associate Director if you will be extending your holiday absence either before or after this period.

In general, we ask that you restrict your travel obligation so that you are truly in residence at the Institute. Please limit your domestic travel (for conferences and workshops in North America) to at most a couple of trips during the year.