TUITION FEES

Last Friday the Princeton undergraduate body voted categorically on the following proposition:

"Do you favor the raising of the University tuition fee to a degree that will cover the actual costs of instruction, provided that if such an increase is effected there will be ample provision made through scholarships and remission of tuition for men who are unable to pay the full amount?"

The purpose of the change was to cover the deficit and to increase the salaries of the professors. Over eleven hundred votes were cast and a 567-548 majority for the affirmative recorded. While these results are far from conclusive, the heavy voting indicates wide-spread interest. From the vote itself the fact that a majority voted for increased tuition is a sign of idealism at Princeton worthy of its noted graduate and president. But in our opinion the minority-were right--although for different reasons perhaps than those for which they voted. Granted that there are many men in college who could well afford to pay three or four times the tuition fee required now, yet from this it should not be argued that they go scot free. Contributions to the endowment fund and class treasuries even up the score; and that the men and parents of the men, in college and out of college, contribute liberally to their Alma Mater, the list of subscribers to the Harvard Endowment Fund will show.

The advantage of this method are obvious; the money is voluntarily contributed; no inequalities are emphasized; and there is no hint of charity. Rather than the system endorsed by Princeton's vote, the goal of a university should be to have a large endowment and a small tuition fee the same for all.