28

A  Study  of  Student  Loans  and

effort  to  shift  the  incidence  of  such  revenue  to  make  it  conform  with  the
new  economic  conditions  and  the  changing  purposes  back  of  higher  education.
  It  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  general  property  tax  is  still  a  just
source  of  funds  for  higher  education.  It  has  been  found  to  be  an  inadequate ­
  form  of  taxation;  so  other  forms  have  been  resorted  to,  but  always
only  to  secure  the  required  revenue  and  without  regard  to  whether  the
incidence  was  equitable.  It  is  urgent  that  adjustments  be  made  if  the
necessary  revenues  are  to  come  from  this  source,  for  the  Capital  needs
for  higher  education  are  increasing  almost  proportionately  with  commodity
and  wage  prices  whereas  growth  of  assessment  values,  on  the  basis  of
which  these  must  largely  be  met,  has  decidedly  lagged. 17  18  19  Such  being  the
case,  there  must  be  a  readjustment  in  the  means  of  support  for  higher  education. ­
  The  mill  tax  which  is  still  used  as  a  foundation  gradually  became
inadequate  and  new  sources  of  revenue  were  sought,  generally  with  the
idea  of  securing  money  with  the  least  resistance  and  not  with  any  policy
of  forcing  those  persons  who  receive  the  benefit  of  university  training  to
pay  for  it.  In  1919-20  the  per  capita  share  of  public  contributions  to
higher  education  in  the  different  States  ranged  from  $3.12  to  $0.11. 1S  It
is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  these  contributions  bear  no  relaticm  to  the
benefits  received.  The  University  of  Nevada  with  its  income  of  $3.12
per  capita  in  the  state  undoubtedly  is  not  serving  the  public  any  better  or
more  extensively  than  the  University  of  Wisconsin  which  is  in  a  state
where  the  per  capita  tax  is  $1.21;  or  in  Ohio  with  its  $0.44  per  capita
tax  during  the  year  1919-20.  To  carry  out  a  policy  which  would  provide
for  taxation  in  accordance  with  benefits  received  would  be  a  difificult  task,
but  the  present  is  an  opportune  time  for  the  introduction  of  such  a  plan,
for  we  are  now  at  the  outset  of  that  state  of  government  activity  that  might
be  called  the  constructive  functions  of  government.  We  do  not  simply  build
upon  the  actually  existing  Situation  and  improve  it,  but  we  now  seek  to  create
entirely  new  conditions  and  to  make  something  exist  which  never  existed
before.“
There  is,  then,  but  one  alternative  in  this  matter.  The  state  expenses
for  higher  education  must  be  allocated  in  accordance  with  and  at  the  point
where  such  institutions  market  their  waves;  or  the  sources  must  be  left
as  they  are  now  and,  to  those  who  are  bearing  the  financial  bürden,  should
be  given  a  full  return  on  money  invested,  as  some  of  the  state  universities
are  attempting  to  do.  It  is  difificult  to  see  any  other  alternative.
11  For  full  discussion  of  this  subject  see:  D.  Snedden,  “Capital  Needs  for  Education  in  the
United  States,”  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  Science,  Jan.,  1920,  pp.  71-82.
18  Including  Normal  Schools.  Taken  from  the  “Report  of  a  Survey  of  State  Institutions
of  Higher  Uearning  in  Kansas,”  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education  Bulletin,  1923,  No.  20,  p.  143.
19  E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  “The  Financing  of  Education,”  Educational  Administration  and
Supervision,  Nov.,  1922,  p.  450.