As for the precedence of money over ability as a criterion for admission, he adamantly denies that this is possible. In fact, last year the minimum entry grade jumped from 74 to 90 on the Egyptian high school diploma. We got three applications for every student that we took this fall. All our students are outstanding. In fact, we are trying to increase the endowment and the proportion going to scholarships.
All money is ploughed back into the university.
Neverthles, over the years AUC has acquired the image of an elite institution indifferent to the society within which it is situated. They are working people, upwardly mobile successful people in their places of work, but they are not from wealthy backgrounds. We also have another programme, which we never even mention, for graduate students at the national universities who can register to use our library. We have 4,000 registered users, which is important because this is the only major foreign-language library in this country, including 250,000 volumes and 2,500 journals. These pay a very nominal fee.