Mrs. Bunting Says Low Dropout Rate Brings Radcliffe Enrollment Increase

Radcliffe's enrollment has been increasing gradually over the last few years and it will not stay at its present level, Mary I. Bunting, president of Radcliffe, said yesterday.

Since 1959, when Mrs. Bunting was appointed president, the student body has grown from 1100 to 1200. Radcliffe has grown because the drop-out rate has gone down, Mrs. Bunting said. It is not a result of a larger entering class. "There have been no big policy decisions," she explained. "It was just people changing their decisions."

Draft.

Harvard enrollment figures have also crept up, largely as a result of the draft, she noted.

"There has not been any ruling on the optimum sizes of either college since I arrived," Mrs. Bunting continued. She was a member of a 1963 committee set up to report on this issue, but, she chuckled, "the committee decided not to make any recommendations."

Radcliffe's enrollment will increase just as the enrollment of all other educational institutions is increasing, Mrs. Bunting said. She added that the present Harvard-Radcliffe ratio of four to one could be another reason for change. "I don't think anybody considers it the best ratio," she said.

The most logical increment, Mrs. Bunting explained, would be to build another Radcliffe House to relieve over-crowding and off-campus living.

Up to Harvard

A larger student body would bring many problems to Harvard. It would, for instance, mean more laboratory facilities, more teaching fellows. Therefore any change would have to be approved by the Harvard administration. For the moment, Harvard is not in the least bit interested, Mrs. Bunting said.

"This is not what I'm pushing for now," she emphasized. "I'm working to bring the quality of Radcliffe living up to the Harvard level. Then we can expand further on that level."

Present plans extending over the next ten years include a fourth House, renovation of the existing dormitories, and a recreation center. The new House should be completed in 1970, and the rennovations in 1975. Projected costs are $30 million.