Class of '56 at Harvard Called Extra Large; 280 Expected to Sign in at 'Cliffe's Briggs

Roughly 1200 freshmen, an extra large class under present University policy, will file through Memorial Hall today to register for their first year of an uncertain college life.

The number is 100 more than the ideal size set by the University for an entering class. Part of the excess came about when not as many men who were accepted dropped out, as was the case in past years.

Last year's Class of '55 was the first to achieve Registrar Sargent Kennedy's post-war ideal class size of 1100 men. The present freshman class is the largest since 1948, when 1300 crowded Memorial Hall on registration day.

The Class of '56 will swell the College roster to 4500 men, 100 over last year's total. The overall University total will be lower, despite a small increase in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. There will be 10,250 students registered in the University by the end of this week, as compared to last year's 10,632.

Inflation

Besides draft worries, the Class of '56 may find tuition, room rent, and board hikes before their graduation day. The College, as others throughout the country during the present inflation, is in the midst of an economy wave, and while no boosts in any of the rates are foreseen here yet, Yale, Dartmouth, and Columbia were forced to raise tuition last year. The College's board went from $14 to $14.50 last spring, and no immediate additional rise is seen.

Extra helpings of desserts, meats, and milk have been curtailed in an effort to forestall future hikes in board rate, as food products are the quickest to react to inflationary trends.

While very few men have been taken from college cloisters to serve with the armed forces, this is no insurance that this condition will obtain in the coming four years. Selective Service Director Louis B. Hershey has already indicated that married men are in danger, and may be forced to dip into the college pool to fill coming quotas.

A passing mark on the draft test is no assurance of deferment. The decision on every man is up to the individual draft board. A good college standing plus a high mark on the test has been good bargaining material in the past, and may continue to be, depending, of course, on the world situation. In past years, there has been a notable increase of the number of men on Dean's list.