Their Relation to Higher Educational Finance 
31 
Nor have purely educational expenses increased as rapidly as individual 
incomes. The result has been that family incomes have expanded, 
students have been given more money for College allowances, and the 
students who work their way through College no longer pay as large a 
share of their personally earned income for educational purposes as for- 
merly. In short, the Student has been paying a constantly decreasing 
Proportion of his income for his education and an increasing proportion 
for a rising Standard of living while at College. 
Comparative Fees and Tuitions in State Institutions 
A study of fees and tuition charges made by Dr. C. H. Thurber of 
the University of Buffalo, reveals some interesting facts relative to this 
source of income. 23 His study shows that from 1900-21 the rise in 
average fees and tuition charges was as follows: 
Departments 
1900-01 
1920-21 
Non- 
Per Cent. 
Increase 
Non- 
Resident 
Resident 
Resident 
Resident 
Resident 
Resident 
Arts and Science... 
$16 
$27 
$47 
$106 
193 
293 
Dentistry 
78 
81 
150 
188 
92 
132 
Medicine 
79 
83 
139 
182 
75 
120 
Law 
51 
53 
79 
116 
55 
119 
Pharmacy 
35 
43 
69 
90 
97 
109 
Engineering 
30 
53 
57 
104 
90 
96 
Ihis should not be surprising in private institutions where specifications 
in endowments may cause such a distribution, but in state institutions it 
is most amazing because nothing could be more subversive to the public 
interest. It is not easy to explain why the fees for the different courses 
were changed as shown by the above data. There seems to have been no 
fixed policy based on social equity. The per cent. of increase is not 
sound criterion, examined as of itself, for it is measured from the basic 
period 1900-01 at which time the distribution was as shown above and 
in Tables 3 and 3A. Whether the distribution of charges in 1900-01 or 
in 1924-25 is the most equitable, it is difficult to say. But it is equallv 
as difficult to defend the changes in charges during this period. Why 
there was a flat increase, for residents in state Colleges and universities, 
of $28 for Arts and Science, $24 for Engineering, $21 for Law, $55 for 
Medicine, etc., is difficult to explain. Nor does there seem to be any 
underlying principle of equity involved. It can be attributed only to a 
“makeshift” for the purpose of balancing budgets. In general most people 
in Arts and Science are preparing themselves for the professions, especially 
the teaching profession where they will later “cash in” on their educa 
tional investment at a somewhat nominal sum. Furthermore, women 
generally form a large proportion of these students. They will receive 
23 Thurber, Op. Cit., pp. 48, 51, 55, and 57.