ROOM RENTS

Close on the heels of its recent liberalization of the inter-House dining situation, the University announces today a substantial twelve percent reduction in House Plan room rates for the coming academic year. The news will surprise not only members of the University, but outsiders as well: for it comes at a time when it might least be expected. There is small doubt that the move was necessary from the student point of view; the $40 average rise in room rents that accompanied the inauguration of the House Plan in 1931 was hardly compatible with the restrictions which had already been, and were to be, made in student budgets. But it is startling that such a step should be taken at a time when the University's income is known to be severely reduced, and when all departments have been forced to accept drastic cuts in their appropriations.

Last spring the Student Council compiled a graph which demonstrated in striking fashion that "the great bulk of new accommodations added by the House Plan have been priced at $280 and above per man, and that there is need for an increase in the number of medium priced rooms around $240 and $260 per student." With this report in mind, the administration has fixed the median of the new rates at about $260. Further than this, the whole scale of rents between $500 and $600 has been wiped out and large additions have been made to the number of rooms within the $100-$200 range.

Residents of single and double suites in Lowell and Dunster House may be disappointed to find that their rent charges have not been reduced proportionately to the cuts made for similar rooms in the 1931 Houses. The apparent discrepancy is, however, wholly justified. The five later Houses possess a large number of inexpensive multiple suites; the rents in the relatively few singles and doubles have been correspondingly high. In Lowell and Dunster, on the other hand, there are no multiple suites, and the prices of singles and doubles are consequently lower than those in the other Houses. In order that price may not become a prominent consideration in a man's choice of House, the University has tried to give each House "substantially the same proportion of single and double suites at each price." The lower rents of these classifications of rooms in Dunster and Lowell have been somewhat reduced; but in general they have been regarded a just, and a happy mean toward which the others should be adjusted.

There must inevitably arise the question as to how the University is to meet the deficit which such a slash will create. The problem is knotty, but at present three possible solutions have been announced. The first rests largely on the hope that lowered rates will induce men to live in the House Plan who have this year elected to save money by finding residence outside. Empty rooms have caused the administration considerable loss in the past two years. Estimates indicate that the $60,000 reduction will in large measure be vindicated and alleviated by full Houses. The second proposal, hardly surprising, is that maintenance costs shall be reduced. And finally, though only cursory mention is made of it, "recourse to other available funds" is named as a final resort.

Criticism there will be, especially from those who experience an extreme partiality to Widener's reading room. But the average man will reflect and feel satisfied that, perhaps a trifle tardily, the University has satisfied all his financial complaints. He will judge the reduction in room rents as the culmination of a period of adjustment in which food prices have been cut, needy men have been given employment, and inter-House eating has been authorized. In all his term there is perhaps nothing more characteristic of President Lowell than the intelligent liberality of the past few months.