Self-Help

Last year nearly half the male students in U. S. colleges earned part of their expenses. From 15% to 25% were entirely selfsupporting. At the same time that more students needed jobs, work grew harder to find. Chores that college boys used to do now gave employment to heads of families. Last week, with college employment bureaus everywhere worried about positions for their charges, the Harvard Crimson made a drastic suggestion: Bar from college all students who must earn their whole way through.

Said the Crimson: "The myth that any able-bodied man can support himself and at the same time realize the full advantages of a college education must be destroyed, and there is no better way to do it than by refusing admission to men who are compelled to spend so much time and go to such ends to earn money for themselves that they lose many of the most essential benefits of a college education."

The Crimson's outburst was not taken very seriously beyond Cambridge. At Princeton the Daily Princetonian politely opined that "the man who can show himself capable of carrying through the double task ought to be given every feasible encouragement and opportunity to undertake it." The New York World-Telegram, citing Herbert Hoover as a student who worked his way through college, exclaimed: "There would be more sense in barring those who earn none of their expenses than those who earn all."

Vetoing the Crimson's suggestion did not, however, better the student employment situation, admittedly critical everywhere.

At Yale University last year 40% of the students earned more than $600,000 to pay for their education. Depression reduced the amount by 25% this year.

At the University of Chicago, where 65% of the students are totally or partially selfsupporting, 1,500 were granted college loans this year, twice as many as in previous years. The university has hunted student jobs by telephone and a house-to-house canvass, has instituted training courses to fit the students for the work obtained for them. More prosperous students have raised a fund for use in cases of extreme need.

At Stanford University, where 60% of the men and 20% of the women work. Depression this year decreased student earnings by one-third. Fifteen percent of the Stanford student body paid tuition this year with notes instead of cash. Recently the university community raised $1,200 to provide employment for students, chiefly on improvements to the grounds.

At University of North Carolina, of the 2,500 students registered, some 550 work while in college. This year they earned $16,000. Bank failures have increased the number of college and vacation workers to 80% of the student body. The university employs 182 students, loaned money to 542 this year. The university loan fund is more than $60,000. In January, students and alumni launched a drive for a $200,000 emergency loan fund, of which $56,000 had been raised last week. The Y. M. C. A. self-help bureau finds endorsers for notes of worthy students. The university dining hall has reduced the price of board to $20 per month. Next year Carolina expects an increased enrollment, has many applications for transfer from more expensive institutions.

Princeton University this year aided 527 of its 2,200 students with $175,000 in loans and scholarships. Some 26% of the students are full or part-time workers. The trustees have decreed that a ruling previously affecting applicants for tuition loans, shall also apply to those seeking scholarships: "An applicant's style of living must be such as to justify his request for financial aid. . . ." This may deter many from joining upperclass eating clubs.

At the Universities of Virginia, Georgia and Alabama self-help students constitute about 40% of the total. The universities so far have been able to furnish jobs or loans, expect no decrease in enrollment.

Cornell University's working students (40% of the total) earn $225,000 per year. More students are seeking work than ever before and jobs are so limited that the university is faced with the prospect of losing many bankrupt upper classmen.

At Barnard College last week Dean Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve appealed for a million dollars in scholarships. Said she: "If students are obliged to drop out of college now, that will mean a shortage of educated citizens in future years."

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