Fee Reduces Applicants To Big Three Colleges

The ten dollar application fee now required from all students seeking admission to Harvard, Princeton, or Yale has resulted in a decrease of candidates for the class of '60, deans of admissions at the three colleges agreed yesterday.

A second determining factor in the decrease, they said, may be this year's earlier deadline for accepting applications. These are now due by Jan. 15, a month earlier than previously.

While applications are still coming in at all three colleges, both Harvard and Yale are running behind last year's total. As of last week, approximately 3,732 students, compared to last year's 3,932, had applied to Yale and about 3,400, compared to last year's 4,017 total had applied to Harvard.

At Princeton, where applications are still being received at a steady rate, the full effect of the ten dollar fee is not yet very clear. Joseph Bolster, assistant dean of Admissions, nevertheless believes that "in the final count there probably will be a decrease in applicants, the reason being the ten dollar application fee."

Distribution Unaffected

The lower number of applicants has not affected the geographical distribution of students at Harvard, David D. Henry '41, acting dean of Admissions, pointed out. "We were afraid," he said, "that students in some districts would be discouraged from applying by the new fee, but this does not seem to be the case."

Although it is still too early for a final evaluation, neither Bolster nor Donald Walker, assistant dean of Admissions at Yale, believe geographical distribution will be adversely affected at their colleges, either.