Carnegie Report Predicts Crisis in College Finance

American colleges and universities face financial problems "serious enough to be called a depression," a Carnegie Commission on Higher Education report said yesterday.

The report strongly supports the memorandum "Harvard and Money" released this week by the University Committee on Governance, describing Harvard's "bleak financial outlook."

The Harvard memorandum reported that "the entire private university system in the United States in its current form is in grave financial trouble. Although richer than the others, Harvard is not an exception."

It went on to say that the increasing average cost per student would mean that "merely standing still would require Harvard to double its operating budget by 1980."

The Carnegie Report, which covered Harvard and others of the country's wealthiest institutions, agreed that "the situation is fast becoming worse as these cost increases continue to outpace income increases."

Clark Kerr, commission chairman, said yesterday that he did not "foresee any of the major institutions in the United States closing their doors," adding that "several of them will have to change profoundly unless solutions are found."

Without a major change in finances, the Harvard memorandum concluded hopefully, "the long-term future will remain bleak, though it is probable that of the large private universities Harvard would be the last to go down."