Summertime

Any student who wants credit for a Harvard course can earn it for less than two-thirds the Harvard College tuition if he attends Summer School; it is just possible that the College's next tuition rise would be a little later or a little less if the Summer School rates went up. In a university that pants persistently for money, there is no visible reason why the Summer School fees should not be as high as those of the regular session. Even if the summer school courses are cheaper to run, it no more follows that the tuition should be lower than it follows that tutorial should cost more than lecture courses.

Similarly, the number of students asking for dormitory space in Summer School has risen so that another, House will probably be left open during the summer--to the inconvenience and annoyance of students who will have to lock all their movable goods in closets to make way for the summer types. Another opportunity to ease the lot of the regular student is the option of placing the burden of the rising costs of running the Houses on the summer students--who are a considerable nuisance to the regular staff and students.

The time is particularly ripe for making summer students pay a larger share of University costs, because the director of the Summer School has just announced the school is so crowded that admission will be limited this year. There is nothing inequitable about raising summer school rates--on the contrary, it is very fair indeed--and those who defend the lower rates might recall that the regular students of Harvard are presently paying a large part of the costs of the University whose name makes the Harvard Summer School attractive.