Aid and Education

Provost Buck announced Thursday a new three-point program to help students to solve their financial worries. It should not only benefit the athletes, who the Provost admitted were special cases, but all others also, especially those whose course schedules interfere with job-getting. The program includes the long-needed formal integration of present financial aid services, an integration that the College has recently provided, but never with much system or publicity.

Under the proposal there will be a survey of present student aid needs, and integration of the Employment Office, Scholarship Committee and student loan services. Some sort of machinery will also be set up to advise every man directly, before and after he arrives in Cambridge, on the College's answers to his money worries. Since the College will publicize this program throughout the nation, entering students will be benefited and prospective students reassured. And this organization of loans, jobs, and scholarships will allow the College to get the most from its limited resources.

This is one approach to the athletic problem, particularly the football problem. It helps solve the worries of all students who, for one reason or another, are not eligible for the regular run of jobs. And in establishing this program the College need not worry about soiling its athletic purity, or its admission policy. The program does not discriminate in favor of athletes, or any other students: entrance criteria remain those of academic and general ability. Of course, the plan does not solve the problem of student aid funds, which are already cramped. These have been spread thinner and thinner to meet the general rise in education costs. But the plan will improve greatly the distribution of the money now available, and thus will make a Harvard education more possible for those who really want one.