Go to College For Nothing!

HAVE YOU READ THE REAL ESTATE ads in this magazine and dreamed about escaping from the city or the 'burbs to an idyllic Vermont village? Now imagine a town where a fixer-upper can be had for $40,000 and your kids can attend Dartmouth—for free.

Such a place really exists. Wheelock, Vermont, a town of fewer than 600 people about an hour's drive north from Hanover, has a unique relationship with the College. Residents of the town, which was named after John Wheelock (son of Dartmouth founder Eleazar Wheelock), can attend Dartmouth tuition-free.

The history of this unique towngown arrangement dates back to 1788, when Dartmouth hit the skids financially. President John Wheelock pleaded with Vermont for a bailout, which it received in the form of state land. The College in turn leased this land to farmers to raise cash. Within a few decades, money earned from the Wheelock holdings represented about a third of the Colleges income. When Nathan Lord assumed Dartmouth's presidency, he reportedly made annual visits to Wheelock to collect the rent. During his 1828 trip Lord, in a gesture of gratitude to the town, promised residents that "whenever any Wheelock boys are ready for college, send them along and there will be a free tuition."

In 1930 the trustees formalized Lords verbal promise by passing a resolution that a "full tuition scholarship be made to any son of the Town of Wheelock by birth or residence." Today the scholarship, which is open to Wheelock daughters, too, is the only connection remaining between the town and Dartmouth. The College gave up title to its Wheelock lands years ago when inflation rendered the leases more trouble than they were worth (those 18th-century administrators set a fixed lease fee of 6 cents per acre for terms in excess of 700 years).

For prospective students angling for a free ride to Dartmouth, relocating to Wheelock might seem like a pretty shrewd move. But prospective freeloaders have to be Wheelock residents when they apply to Dartmouth, and they must make their way through the standard admissions process just like everyone else. The net result is that fewer than a dozen students have taken advantage of the scholarship since it was instituted. In fact, Wheelock didn't produce a single College ready boy until 1886.

George Hill '05 is the most recent recipient of the so-called "Sons of Wheelock" scholarship. But the tuition-free arrangement was not the main reason he chose Dartmouth. "I was attracted to the strong Native community, and since I am part Native-American! felt that this was an important aspect of Dartmouth," he says.

He does offer some inside advice to parents considering a move to Wheelock to cash in on the offer of free tuition: "You have to be 100 percent sure that your kid wants to attend Dartmouth. Remember, the town is remote, cold in the winter and has a below-average school system. If you welcome the change of lifestyle to a very rural setting, are positive that your child not only wants to go to Dartmouth but will also get admitted, then by all means Wheelock, Vermont, is the place for you."