CEEB Executive Group Approves Monro Plan

The executive committee of the College Entrance Examination Board approved the Monro proposal for a college scholarship clearing house, yesterday in a New York City meeting.

The plan, suggested by John U. Monro '34, Director of the Financial Aid Center and developed by a CEEB committee, now will go before the full College Board for final approval on April 7.

If the proposal, designed to eliminate scholarship bidding for superior students, passes the full board, a standardized scholarship application program will begin next year, William C. Fels, associate director of the CEEB, said yesterday.

A national computation-of-need system would have to wait for at least a year, however, he added. Fels heads the committee formulating specific recommendations for the program.

"We will probably begin with a small experimental group of schools in 1954-55, if the plan is approved," he stated. Because of the present indefinite nature of the plan, it is impossible to say which schools would comprise the test group.

Plan Essentially Same

Fels asserted that "we would like to help eliminate the duplication of effort by admissions offices," and that a computation system would obviously increase the value of the system.

The plan approved yesterday by the 13 members of the executive committee is, with some simplification, essentially the same as that suggested earlier this week by Fels.

Students applying for scholarships would send standardized applications to College Board centers in Princeton, N.J., or Los Angeles, The original would be kept by the CEEB, but duplicates would be sent to colleges specified by the applicant.

Recommendations for computation procedure are more indefinite, but if the CEEB decides to administer this service, it would include checking the accuracy of parents' financial statements.

Western Group Now Meets

Assumption of this computational service would necessitate either local or national information-exchanges between colleges, such as that now in operation on the Pacific Coast.

Once information is tabulated, groups of colleges would meet to decide on their awards to students who have applied to several schools. The western association of 15 schools now meets informally for such exchange of information.

The entire plan was first proposed by Monro at a College Board meeting last spring. A group of 14 New England colleges studied and approved the plan, and last fall $50,000 was voted to Fels' committee to draw up specific recommendations.

Working with these funds voted by the Board, researchers have made studies of various scholarship procedures. A team from the CEEB visited Cambridge last week to study the systems now in use at the College, M.I.T., and Radcliffe.