Evening star., 1918-08-29
us. TOF|NANCE
BOYS S|NCOLLEGES
Opens Doors to Youths of 18
Who Pass Entrance
Examinations.
GEN. MARCH APPROVES
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Copyright, 1918, by the New York Evening
Post Company0
The United States government has
virtually taken over the universities
and colleges of the country. Any boy
of eighteen, who can pass the en-
trance requirements, can go to any of
the colleges, large or small. in the
east or west. and get instruction and
subsistence at the expense of the
government
How long he will be permitted to
stay in his course before being sum-
moned to active service depends upon
two things: his record in scholarship
and the military demands Of the forth
coming year.
But the War Department has just
agreed to enter into contracts with
upward of 400 universities and col
leges, beginning on October ], for the
payment of tuition and board for all
the boys of eighteen who will have
been registered or enrolled on Sep
tember next under the terms of the
new man-power law. Inasmuch as
most colleges depend upon tuition
fees to pay their professors and in
structors, the government Is In
sense supporting the educational. in
stitutions during the period OF the
war when the calls of the Army ana
Navy would otherwise have disrupted
the private colleges and unendowed
schools of the country.
Scheme Operates October l.
1t had been intended at first to
enter into contracts with the colleges
only after the students became avail
able, but the new plan just approved
by Cen March, chief of stan Of the
United States Army. is to begin the
operation of the scheme on October /.
so that no time may be lost by the
students or the colleges in giving the
maximum amount of instruction be-
fore the boys are called to the colors.
The system of operation. therefore,
will be about like this:
A boy who Is not yet eighteen enters
college in the usual way by certificate
from his preparatory school or en-
trance examinations, and II he be-
comes eighteen years of age during
the college year he will register un-
der the terms of the new law provid-
ing periodical registration days. and
Will pc luQuCIcu INTO InG
military service By the military COM
mander stationed at the univpraity or
college where the boy has oesun his
course.
As to Boys Now 10 Years Old.
A boy who is already eighteen years
old will register on September and
will present himself in the usual way
for entrance to the college or uni
versity of his preference. He will be
inducted into the military service at
that Institution at the same time that
he passes the entrance examinations
or meets the requirements of the coll
lege. From that moment on he Is no
longer in the Jurisdiction of the local
or district boards of the city In which
United states Army subject. to the
orders of the military commander
stationed in the district where the
school or college is located.
The college year will be divided into
quarters These will undoubtedly be
examinations at the end of each quar-
shall be continued in college as possi-
BILE material for officers training
camps later on or transferred to a.
non-commissioned officers school or
ordered to report to a division of the
draft army for service beginning as
not merely of the military command
er, but the college authorities, who
will cooperate in passing upon the
status of each Individual
Curriculum Plans.
But inasmuch as the government is
bearing the cost of instruction, the
War Departments special committee
of Army officers and educators, who
know exactly what are the, needs and
requirements of the Army for COM
missioned and non-commissioned Of
about the curriculum and how much
of it shall be military, technical or
scientific though 1t will have to de-
pend upon the opinion of the college
authorities and the results Of exam
nations to determine the special fit
branches of the service into which
the young officers can later be taken.
Undoubtedly the Navy will have part
in the plans so that process OF selec-
ton can be introduced which viii enable
the Navy to take men who are trained
in special courses and give them naval
instruction later on to At them for COM
missions
Divide Year In Quarters.
BY dividing the year into quarters It
viii be possible to enter new students
four times year. Thus boys Of eigh-
teen who have had a high school educa-
ton but who have never prepared for
college viii have an opportunity, II they
show aptitude for further education, to
be selected from among their fellows
and sent to technical schools or COL
leges. Merit will be the test all along
the line.
II a boy of eighteen can pass the
examinations set before him he may
conceivably have spent six months a
private in the Army and be sent as a
result of an examination to enter
Yale, Harvard or Princeton. or any
Of the numerous colleges with which
the government will have contracted
for student instruction.
Thus far contracts are entered into
only for the year ending June 80,
1918. but as the scheme works out
during the neat few months and pro-
vision must be made to take caro- Of
the boys who Will be ready to enter
college In the autumn Of 1913. 1t IL
probable that arrangements for