THE CLAIM OF THE NEEDY STUDENT

[NOTE: Mr. Tuttle, who contributes the following statement of the principles that underlie the giving of alumni aid to needy students at Dartmouth, is treasurer of the Dartmouth Educational Association, which was founded in 1896 for the purpose of providing assistance to the man who must borrow to complete his college course. The work of the association has been such as to deserve the highest commendation. THE MAGAZINE .accordingly welcomes this opportunity of presenting Mr. Tuttle's views on the qualifications which are considered essential to validate a request for assistance. In the face of the too frequent undergraduate assumption that the Bachelor's degree, as such, is a guarantee of fitness and an assurance of success, the clearly defined alumni opinion that after all it is the quality of work behind the degree that really counts, is both encouraging and refreshing.]

At every college, there are men who must borrow money in order to complete their college course, or who must otherwise stay out for a year or so, and fail to finish their course with their class. Every case is a special one and only the most general remarks can be made regarding the situation which the borrower must face, yet a statement regarding the chances of obtaining such help may be of service.

Supposing the necessity of borrowing or leaving college exists; the first question which confronts the borrower is as to the source to which he should apply for loans.: Scholarship aid and scholarship loans from the college are available, and the method used in making these is generally understood in college. The abuse of these methods of obtaining money is perhaps not so generally understood and is not treated of in this discussion. After the college, there remains the man's personal acquaintances at home, and the question of whether it is possible to borrow from some of the alumni.

The mental attitude of the man's own acquaintances in his home town is rather clearly understood. His family reputation, his ability, his promise, and his method of handling his affairs with others are recognized, so that the anxiety to help him along depends not alone on himself but as well on the goodwill felt towards his family. The personal acquaintances at the man's own home constitute the most likely group of possible loaners, and the most competent.

In case of failure to find anyone among one's own acquaintances willing or able to make loans, the student is often referred to a list of alumni of the college who are supposed to be more or less willing to loan to students; or sometimes to some alumni organization. So far as the business principles involved are concerned, these apply as well to the loan made by a family acquaintance as to that made by an alumnus or an alumni organization, and are to be kept in mind. From a purely business point of view, it is to be remembered that there is no excuse for making a loan without security. Short of the endorsement of someone financially responsible such a loan is usually of poor business value, and will-be given purely through good nature or good will. An insurance policy has little cash value for a number of years, there is no certainty that the premium on the policy will be paid, and the policy is only available as cash in case of death. Accordingly, there remains only the quality of promise in the borrower himself which makes it attractive for the loaner to help him, in the hope that he will develop into something useful to himself, the community, and the college. The only way in which an opinion can be formed as to the man s future promise is from what he has done and what he is doing. If, on inquiry, it is found that the student is making little show in college, either in scholarship or in his relations to the student body, that much evidence is against his availibility for a loan. If, on inquiry at his home or his preparatory school, it is found that he is of medium ability, that there is nothing especially against him, but nothing positively in his favor, that he has not shown force enough to earn money, then there remains no excuse whatever for making the loan. The statement that a college education spoils a good many farm hands probably fairly covers the case of a man with this sort of a reputation. It means that he would do little harm in the community and might have made a successful farm hand, might have worked successfully under direction at tasks which were made familiar by repetition, but that he would never learn to think, or to direct men, or to accomplish anything of vital importance.

The college student who sends in a statement of his affairs showing that there is nothing against him, and fails to show that there is anything positively in his favor, might save himself mortification and trouble, as there is not one chance in a hundred that he will be able to induce any alumnus to help him at all. A wise alumnus before giving any financial help will find out what good the borrower is to the college at this time, and what good he promises to be to the college in time to come. The alumni lists of all colleges are littered with the names of inefficients who continue to do no harm after their graduation, their chief claim for distinction being that they graduated from such or such a college. Their graduation is the greatest thing they have ever accomplished or ever will accomplish. That is, instead of helping the college, they are pulling down its reputation by eternally insisting that they graduated from their unfortunate Alma Mater. The college wants men who will help its reputation by doing something worth doing, and the alumni know this.

For the man who can show real ability, an aggressiveness, and positive accomplishments, if his case is known, means of assistance will be found by the alumni. To the man who has worked for all that there is in him to give himself an education, who shows promise, who is really struggling to keep his expenses down and to find means of adding to his income, who wishes to learn, who can fight against odds, who can think, there are waiting among the alumni men ready to help heartily and gladly; men who will not help along a poor proposition or even a fair one, but who will take a chance again and again on the type of man that is good for the college to have,—the poor man with the ability, the will, and the fight.