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  formerly.
  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  educational ­
  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.