COMPARATIVE COLLEGE COSTS
WHEN NEWSPAPER reports appeared, during the summer, stating that the typical Dartmouth student spends $1,700 per year in Hanover and comparing this figure with much lower ones at other colleges, there were many questions raised to the general effect of "What's wrong with Dartmouth?" It appeared that Dartmouth is way out of line when her 2,300 students (every one a millionaire) spend $1,700 per annum apiece and the impoverished undergraduates of Princeton scrimp and save their pennies with the result that the typical Princeton student expends only $1,093 annually; at Harvard it is $1,150; at Yale $1,300; at Williams $1,300; at Columbia $1,000; at Berea College $202. Certainly there is something wrong and the explanation is a simple one.
The U. S. Office of Education collected the figures for all colleges and universities. The Dartmouth fair average or typical expense was taken from a College catalogue of two years ago in which appears an itemized summary of estimated costs for the prospective student. This estimate includes all expenses even to travel, clothing, fraternities, trips, amusements, etc., as well as tuition, board, room, laundry, and books. The government survey specifically states that only the bare expenses of college were reported but Dartmouth was left well out of line because all items were included. And these extras were without question much higher two years ago than they are today, with the economies that students have universally been forced to adopt. It is obvious that the figures given in the published table are not all based on the same statistics. The Dartmouth total should be cut by $250 for clothing, $75 for travel, and at least $2OO for social and recreational expense. Deducting the resulting $525 from the published amount of $1,700 gives Dartmouth a typical expense of $1,175 which is about correct.
One frequently wrong news medium stated that a freshman "if he is going to live like his other classmates at Dartmouth, will find by next June that his outlay has been in the neighborhood of $1,700 highest in the land." Such misstatements encourage the prevalent belief that Dartmouth is adequately, if not lavishly, endowed with worldly goods. This is very far from the truth. Dartmouth's endowment per student is woefully low, lower than that of most of the New England colleges. Almost any optimistic statement in regard to the sure security of Dartmouth's financial position is an exaggeration.
Since this whole subject is being aired it is reassuring to note the extensive assistance which the Trustees are making available to students in need of financial aid. Under the direction of Professor Neef the number of undergraduates receiving aid in one way or another has increased to about 25% of the student body. It has been necessary for the Trustees to appropriate an annually increasing amount from the College's general funds in order adequately to meet the demands of recent years. Special appropriations have often been made in order to keep boys in college. About 100 more boys are now receiving aid than received it five years ago. During the past year the total amount of financial aid allotted students through scholarship funds, loan funds, Dick's House, and deferred tuition was approximately $155,000. Employment was also provided through the Dining Association, the library, the recreational department, etc., amounting to about $45,000. The entire student assistance for the year was at least $200,00, which was about the same for the previous year (1932-33). There is no threat to Dartmouth's far-famed democracy.
