Ivies Get U.S. Grant For Recruiting Students

The Ivy League and the "Seven Sisters" colleges last week received a $96,498 federal grant to expand recruiting among underprivileged but talented high school students.

The grant will insure the continuation of the Cooperative Program for Education, run by the 15 colleges under Title IV of the 1964 Higher Education Act.

For the past three years the CPEO has sent college faculty members to over 500 high schools in poverty stricken areas, mostly in the South to impress seniors with the need for further education.

These college educators inform high school students and teachers of the openings in northern schools and of the preparation necessary to enter these schools.

In the past a major criticism of the program has been the fact that it only contacted high school seniors Now with the increased government allocation the CPEO will be able to remedy that situation.

Charles P. McCarthy, director of the CPEO, said yesterday that he plans to have representatives contact motivated but underprivileged students in the lower years of high school and keep them interested in northern colleges throughout their high school careers.

The CPEO will also expand its resident staff at Yale from four to eight men. In 1965., with no increase in funds, the program doubled the number of students it contacted. McCarthy hopes that with the new grant the CPEO will be able to triple its 1965 contacts.

Harvard has managed to greatly increase the number of undergraduates recruited from underprivileged areas because of the program and should benefit from the increased federal allotment. More students will be aware of the scholarship opportunities at Harvard and consider applying.

Radcliffe, on the other hand, has not benefited as much from the program. Not as many girls as boys are successfully contacted by the program and the limited number of Radcliffe scholarships discourages girls from applying.

The program with its already heavy emphasis in the South, will now expand more heavily into the Midwest and West. McCarthy said he hopes the project can reach the Puerto Rican population of New York City, which has been a prime target of the program.