Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1940-06-21
WHAT DOES IT
COST TO GO TO
COLLEGE TODAY


ment be sound financially? Would
trade offer more job security, greater
financial rewards, and equal or great
er happiness? Should / try to land
a job in a store or restaurant and
learn while 1 earn? Could make
progress through night school or thru
correspondence courses?
It would be as foolish to advocate
that everyone should go to college as
to advocate that everyone should learn
a trade. Some lack ability, aptitude,
and inclination for bookish courses.
Some have special talent in art and
music. Others have mechanical abili-
ty and manual skill but lack capacity
for achievement in higher mathemat-
les. Only by study of the individual,
and analysis of the requirements of
vocations can proper decisions as to
careers be made.
Thousands in college today spend
less than $400 per year for every
thing. Other thousands pay this for
tuition alone. Many spend from 5000
to $500 per year. Costs depend on
the size, location, and nature of the
college and the personal habits of the
student. Tuition is lowest in State
supported colleges. 1t is highest in
eastern colleges with national pres
tige.
Many young men and women with
ability and ambition earn from one
fourth to one half of their expenses in
college. A few earn all, though this
is very difficult. 1t is recommended
too that students have enough for the
first year if possible.
Self-help while attending college
was once the exception. Now it is
quite general. The National Youth
each year in higher institutions of
Administration aids several thousand
learning. Sons of coal miners and
WPA workers now go to college.
Scholarships are increasing. Student
employment offices are constantly on
the job. Thus it is no longer entirely
a question of family finance. It is
more a matter of ability, ambition,
and determination on the part of the
student
That college can help develop the
individual, stimulate initiative, arouse
worthwhile interests, make for civic,
political and social enlightenment,
broaden intellectual horizons, improve
thought processes, give perspective
and scene of values, improve ones
habits of study, increase capacity for
aesthetic appreciation and make for
a wiser use of leisure time, seems
to be quite generally accepted. Col
lege alumni are not so certain as to
its financial benefits. Some in fact
feel that the question of money-re-
turn is not vital consideration.
money making in the professions is
not regarded as an aim, and liberal
arts college students, generally, hope
to enter upon professional careers in
engineering, agriculture, business,
law, journalism, music and other
fields.
Certain evidence, however, does ex-
list that job stability, promotions, and
income are often improved or accele-
rated by higher education. Only IL
per cent of the 1000 graduates of
Purdue University reported that they
were not employed in gainful pur-
suits in 1885. DR.. Alfred H. Upham,
President of Miami University, has
found high correlation between edu-
cation and economic independence.
The United States Office of Educa-
ton, reporting on the Economic Stat
us of College Alumni" from 81 uni
versities in 1887, found that more
than 45 per cent were unemployed for
some period of time after graduation
but that fewer than 2 per cent had
been on relief rolls.
Furthermore, E. E. Halls study of
employees of the Bell Telephone sys-
tenn in 1927 made it clear that income
is affected by the amount one learns
in college. This study by the Per-
sonnet Department of the Bell System
covered the records of 4,125 graduates
Of 104 colleges. It was found that
five years after graduation men in
the first third Of their college classes
in scholarship had one chance in two
Of being among the first third in
salary. Men in the lowest third in
collegiate scholarship had only one
chance in three of being in the high
est third in salary.
Increasingly a college education is
demanded by personnel men who visit
colleges each year to select engineers,
statisticians, credit Investigators,
chemists, high school teachers, legal