75 Years of Helping Students

The Dartmouth Educational Association, active since 1896, this year is providing $100,000 in loans to deserving undergraduates

An idea translated into action by eight Dartmouth alumni of the Boston area in the fall of 1896 has kept going with increasing strength and helpfulness over the intervening three-quarters of a century. That idea, embodied in the Dartmouth Educational Association, was to establish a revolving loan fund "for the purpose of assisting needy students preparing for and pursuing courses of study at Dartmouth College."

The D.E.A. has done its work quietly, in collaboration with the Financial Aid Office at the College, and it is not as widely known among the alumni as it deserves to be. But it is known gratefully to hundreds and hundreds of Dartmouth men whe were enabled by D.E.A. loans to meet their college expenses and complete their courses of study.

Important as the Dartmouth Educa- tional Association's role has always been in the College's financial aid program, a new significance is now added by the fact that as tuition and other charges go up, students needing financial help are expected to make greater use of long-term loans. The College's own loan funds, always fully assigned, have been supplemented this year by $100,000 from the D.E.A.

That $100,000 is the largest annual sum ever provided by the D.E.A. and it represents a goal that the association has long been working toward. The way in which this alumni effort has progressed can be gathered from the dollar figures: $9,258 loaned in 1950, $33,730 in 1960, and now $100,000 for the current academic year. In the past twenty years, more than $1 million has been loaned to Dartmouth students.

The capital of the D.E.A. has been built up from the $10 annual dues of members, from gifts and bequests, and from the interest earned on student loans. Membership has had a remark- able growth, especially in recent years, and the January 1971 roster lists 1987 members, ranging from the Classes of 1900 to 1971. Among them are 117 life members, a category begun in 1955 for those who make a payment of $250.

The increase in contributing members, at the heart of the association's enlarged assistance to students, was the achievement mainly of the late Josh Clark '11 of Boston, who from the time he took office in 1949 until his death in June 1970 worked incessantly to get more Dartmouth men interested in the D.E.A. program. In his memory The Joshua B. Clark Memorial Fund has been established, and officers of the association have directed that future contributions by members be added to that fund instead of the general fund as has been the practice in the past.

Repaid principal and interest become part of the general loan fund, on which the D.E.A. draws for its annual grant to the College's Financial Aid Office. Loans are made through that office, which approves all student recipients, and are administered separately by the College. Procedures are the same as for other student loans, except that notes are signed payable to the Dartmouth Educational Association rather than to the Trustees of Dartmouth College.

Promissory notes bear no interest while the student is an undergraduate at Dartmouth but do bear interest at the rate of 3% per year from the time the student leaves college to the date on which the loan is fully repaid. Since D.E.A. loans are usually made to minors, moral responsibility for repayment comes into play more than strict banking standards; but the reasons for non-payment are usually death or extreme hard luck, and only occasionally does the association encounter irresponsibility on the part of those it has helped.

Over the years the D.E.A. has avowed its satisfaction in helping Dartmouth students who show willingness to help themselves and who give promise of being responsible citizens. The roster of its present members includes a sizable number of men who were once the beneficiaries of D.E.A. loans.

The work of the officers and trustees of the association is gratuitous, and has been from the beginning. F. William Andres '29 has served as president since 1957 and Wilbur W. Bullen '22 has been treasurer since 1952. The office of vice president, with membership responsibilities, has been assumed by Carroll Dwight '22, succeeding the late Josh Clark '11; and the clerk is David A. Tonneson '56, whose predecessor, Chandler H. Foster '15, held that post for nearly 25 years. The present D.E.A. trustees are Richard Parkhurst '16, Lloyd D. Brace '25, and Charles W. Bartlett '27.

One man in Hanover who knows the true value of the D.E.A.'s work is Robert K. Hage '35, director of financial aid. He recalls that an officer of the association was once told that the D.E.A. would be put out of business by the government, which would provide all the loans necessary and at very low interest. Government help has gone the other way and private loan programs are more necessary than ever "So the College is relying very heavily on the Dartmouth Educational Association," says Mr. Hage. "Without its funds we would have to dip into our limited scholarship funds or the unrestricted funds of the College, and either of those moves would be deplorable at this time of financial stringency."