Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-12
GEORGE e. NiTZScHE
Working Way Through College


GLE WORKED his way through the
IL University" is a slogan that applies
to n large number Of University of Penn
ssylvania students each year, says George
L. Nitzsche, recorder, who for twenty years
has given encouragement sympathy and as
sistance to ambitious undergraduates who
entered college on a shoestring, plus nerve
and resourcefulncss.
because the University Of Pennsylvania
Is part of the third largest city in the United
States and only seven minutes ride from Its
business center, 1t offers unusual opportuni-
ties for the student poor in purse says
Recorder Nitzsche.
business and professional circles worked
their way through hundreds Of others con-
tinue to do so.
:" What is the best paying thing I can
do?' is question l am often asked by the
student who must work Newspaper oe5Ii cor
opportunities. There are six daily news
papers in Philadelphia, each with cOrre-
spondents covering University departments
for local news and another set collecting
sporting items on Franklin Field.
Newspaper Work Profitable
"These University correspondents, as they
are called, earn comfortable sums In man
ner that offers slight, IL any, conflict with
their studies. The limited number Of these
newspaper opportunities is, however, . fac
tor to be reckoned with.
lone young man that know Of worked
his way through the Wharton School and
the law school on newspaper work, helped
to support a widowed mother and had $1,000
saved to meet exigencies when he hung out
his shingle in a law Office this fall. recall
several who earned as much as $4,000 year
without letting such outside work interfere
with their studies, and that was years be-
fore these high price times.
ssDnita puuher NJ attdanfo oanaciallv
those In the professional schools, act as
tutors in their leisure time, for which they
are well paid. and in addition become. ac-
quainted with well known Philadelphia fam
ways, often putting them In the way of
profitable openings after graduation.
'Acting as University agents for firms
that supply wear ing apparel, selling books.
clerking In the afternoons, and on Saturdays
in department stores, and even writing mo-
tion picture scenarios and short stories for
magazines have supported students.
waiting on the table at fraternity and
boarding houses has helped others. giving
them their meals, but this work must usually
be supplemented by some other means. A
student who later became track captain and
one Of the most active and popular members
of his class started In at the University by
serving meals to fraternity men. Tending
furnaces and carrying papers, although
sometimes given an exaggerated Importance
in fiction and magazine stories, are resorted
to by comparatively few undergraduates.
They don't pay enough.
Some Cannot Stand Strain
"Of course, not all working students are
successful in keeping up with their studies
and eventually graduating. Some lack the
physique. Some are unable to adjust their
work to fit in with their studies, due, per-
haps, to the nature Of the work they choose.
Others choose a work which proves more
alluring to them than studies and they re-
nounce the classroom.
"It has been argued that only low per-
centage Of working students really get the
most out Of their attendance at the Uniyer-
sity, inasmuch as frequently, 1t Is said. they
have no time to make friends with the other
students, and they miss the excitement of
playing or watching an intercollegiate sport.
and are necessarily excluded from active
participation in college activities, such as
publications, debating societies, thoatricals,
etc. On the contrary, my observation have
been that the working student tastes college
life as fully as the average undergraduate
Even if he misses the opportunity of going
In for this or that campus activity, he has
gained that broadening, eye opening contact
with the workaday world which his more
prosperous classmate has yet to experience.
Many Work In Vacations
"Just as more students are working In
school term, the number working out of term
Is increasing. Each September sees scores
of fellows, bronzed and fit, fortified with a
well filed purse from summer employment.