Scholarship Funds Must Increase by $200,000 Annually, Council Hears

Harvard needs $200,000 more in scholarship funds annually if it is to maintain its large scale scholarship program, John U. Monro '35 and F. Skiddy von Stade '38 told the Student Council last night.

Both a faculty committee and a Student Council committee issued reports at the meeting on investigations of the College scholarship facilities that were begun early in the fall. Each report stressed that under no circumstances should the proportion of scholarship students in each class fall below 20 percent.

After the discussion on scholarships, Charles W. Detjen '50 recommended the abolition of the Freshman Red Book and suggested that its contents be incorporated into an expanded Album. The Council postponed action on the Red Book's fate until its next meeting.

Monro described the Faculty Committee on Scholarship findings on behalf of Dean Bender who was unable to attend the Council meeting because of illness.

Endowment Inadequate

Inflation has made inadequate the $400,000 annual income which Harvard derives from its scholarship endowment, the largest in the world, Monro explained. The price of attending Harvard is now 50 percent over the pre-war cost and hence $600,000 is now needed to finance yearly scholarship grants.

For the next two years a reallocation of $100,000 in surplus scholarship funds can assist in making up the deficit. The other $100,000 in financial aid, Monro and von Stade suggested, can be mustered through an expanded student employment and loan program.

In the long run, however, $5,000,000 in additional scholarship endowment will be needed to provide the additional $200,000 needed annually assuming a 4 percent income on the $5,000,000.

Two plans for enlarging Harvard's student loan facilities were proposed by Monro. The first, which has been employed at Yale for ten years, would provide for a maximum loan of $600 per year interest free until five years after graduation from college. Then there would be a 4 to 41/2 percent interest rate on the loan until it was completely repaid.

Plan Similar to MIT

The second plan which MIT has used since 1929 involves similar loans which are paid back at a rate of $50 per half year after graduation and pays a continuous 1 percent interest rate on the loan. Which plan Harvard may adopt is still completely undecided and the question brought considerable debate at the Council meeting.

Detjen made his suggestions about the Red Book during a report on an investigation, authorized by the Council October 11, of the freshman publication.

The Council voted 7 to 6 in favor of giving financial support to a Class of 1950 dance