College Expenses.

Although the difference in the amount of money which students at different colleges spend is very great, there is not such a disparity in the necessary expenses as many people suppose. At the city colleges, such as Harvard, Yale and Columbia, the necessary annual expense may be about $100 more than at Amherst, Dartmouth or Williams; but this slight increase is more than counter-balanced by the aid which the larger colleges offer to indigent students. Harvard has at her disposal 122 scholarships, varying in amount from $75 to $350, averaging about $225. In the Freshman year there are two assignments made: and it is possible for a hard student to receive $600 in scholarships during his first year-a sum more than sufficient to pay all of his expenses. Here, aid is given to students who are needy, and who stand high in their classes; but in almost all other colleges, those who intend to study for the university are the favored ones, and at some colleges it is impossible for any others to receive the slightest assistance.

Room rent, board and tuition, are the principal items in the necessary expenses; and of these room rent varies the most. At Amherst, a student pays from $40 to $125 for a single room; at Williams, $25 to $100; at Yale, $50 to $140; while at Harvard the rent varies all the way from $44 to $300, with very few desirable rooms for less than $150. Of course, if two students room together, the expense is reduced one half. The difference in the second item, board, is not nearly so great, the large numbers at the city colleges rendering co-operation much easier, and enabling the students to procure better board at a less cost. It is possible to get as good board for $4 a week here at Memorial Hall as could be got at Amherst or any other college for $5 or $6. Tuition ranges all the way from $12 per year at Oberlin, Ohio, to $200 at Columbia; at Brown, Bowdoin, Princeton and Williams, it is $75; at Amherst $100, at Yale $140, and at Harvard $150. By adding to these main items of expense, other necessary items, such as clothing, fuel, washing, books, etc., we can arrive at what may be called the minimum expense at the various colleges. Statistics have been carefully prepared at this point, and the following may be said to be the very least annual expenditure which will carry a student through the several colleges. Harvard, $475; Yale, $425; Amherst, Williams, and other colleges of the same stamp, about $375.

So much for the absolutely necessary expenses. What a student will actually spend, depends entirely upon himself. The limit might be placed at between $4,000 and $5,000 at Harvard, and much less at other colleges where the temptation to spend money is less. Mr. Thwing, in an article in Scribner's Monthly, several years ago, placed the average annual expenses of a student at the various colleges as follows: Harvard, $1,000; Yale, $1,000; Amherst, $700; Princeton, $600; Brown, Bowdoin or Williams, $500. While the average Yale man may not spend as much as the average Harvard man in entertainment's, his subscriptions to sports and his society dues are much greater.

Turning to foreign universities, we find that in Germany the fees and living expenses are very much less than even at our cheapest colleges. In England, at Cambridge and Oxford. the expense is about the same as at Harvard, perhaps being slightly more at Oxford. An almost necessary item of expense at an English University is a fee for "coaching," or tutoring, as we would call it. With us, aid from private tutors is confined almost entirely to men who have neglected their work during the term and are desirous simply of passing the examinations; but there, the best scholars, those who are working for the prizes, are the men who avail themselves most frequently of a tutor assistance; indeed, it is considered impossible for any one to get a scholarship, unless he has got through a certain amount of cramming at the hands of a professional coach.