Speed Up Specials

The University's acceleration plan has been justly praised as a valuable contribution to national defense. It is helping to give the government trained specialists in defense fields in a substantially shorter time than it took to train them before the present emergency. But if the full benefits of this idea are to be realized, they must apply to all students who might benefit from it. As it stands now, the acceleration program makes no adequate provisions for an important undergraduate group--needy students who must depend on financial aid from the University.

Since a flaw like this seriously narrows the scope of the new program, an investigation of how it might be solved seems in order. Drawing on the regular scholarship fund, which seems the most obvious solution, would doubtless prove to be unsatisfactory, since these funds are already inadequate. Of the four hundred and fifty upper-classmen on the Dean's List who last year applied for scholarship aid, one hundred and fifty were turned down. Further demands would simply make it harder for everyone.

The suggestion that a special scholarship fund be set up solely for the benefit of three-year men meets with fundamentally the same objections as drawing on the regular funds. It would mean ear-marking cash directly from the central office; curtailing expenses in another direction would be the result, and the University justifiably frowns on such. Using present loan funds is the method that University Hall has followed most often in aiding financially-dependent three-year students. But it is clear that such a procedure, if extended, would quickly become overloaded, and could not pretend to cover anything-like the entire picture.

Seemingly the most practical method is one which is just beginning to gain recognition. It consists of allowing men enrolled in the program to take courses free of charge, after paying the normal tuition rate for four courses. This is already being done for a few concentrators in fields considered vital to national defense. Since the number of such students enrolled in each course cannot be large, the added expense for new section men and instructors would amount to little or nothing.

An effective solution to what amounts to a very real problem would enormously increase the value of the new program. It would mean granting equal opportunity to all interested and capable students. And the nation would gain in the bargain.