FOR three years, St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Ind., debated a novel fund-raising idea. The small Roman Catholic school (enrollment: 1,300) wanted to raise money to keep its campus going and growing, but instead of the usual appeal to the alumni, the administrators were considering an advertising campaign directed at the public.

St. Joseph's chose TIME for its first effort: a full-page ad three weeks ago in our East Central edition, which has a circulation of 720,000 in eight Middle Western states. At page center stood a smiling priest identified as Father William Kramer, Doctor of Science. The ad explained that Father Kramer, a chemistry professor at St. Joseph's, is paid only $50 a month to teach; his last raise went into a building fund. From there on, the ad was a straightforward plea for contributions, ending up: "We felt it was worth the cost of this page to talk to you. If you would like to help us, we would be grateful."

When St. Joseph's ad appeared, we at TIME began wondering whether such a plea should have been placed on a commercial, basis. We decided not, and wired the college that the page cost of $6,000 would be refunded. The response was enthusiastic. As Development Director Father John Lefko put it, "We all did a flip."

As it happens, TIME had been discussing the possibilities of free educational advertising for some time. From now on, TIME'S policy will be to open its advertising pages to messages from institutions of higher learning. Any interested college or university can write to the publisher --although frankly we hope the schools won't storm our office. We might run as many as 50 free ads a year, provided that the messages demonstrate the imagination and scope that will appeal to TIME'S readers.

ALSO in the area of education, Time Inc. announced a corporate grant of $250,000 to be divided among 25 women's colleges, selected for academic excellence and leader ship. The schools: Agnes Scott (Ga.), Barnard (N.Y.), Bennington (Vt.), Bryn Mawr (Pa.), Chatham (Pa.), Connecticut College, Goucher (Md.), Hollins (Va.), Manhattanville (N.Y.), Mount Holyoke (Mass.), Mills (Calif.), New Rochelle (N.Y.), Newcomb (La.), Pembroke, (R.I.), Radcliffe (Mass.), Randolph-Macon (Va.), Sarah Lawrence (N.Y.), Scripps (Calif.), Skidmore (N.Y.), Smith (Mass.), Sweet Briar (Va.), Vassar (N.Y.), Wellesley (Mass.), Wells (N.Y.), and Wheaton (Mass.).

Time Inc. President James A. Linen explained: "We are deeply interested in women's education, not only because of the past contributions and future importance of educated women in society, but also because of our dependence on their graduates to fill important positions on our staff." Over the years, more than 800 graduates from these colleges have been employed at Time Inc. TIME'S editorial research staff right now has 45 alumnae from eleven of them.

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