College, Radcliffe Tuition Raised to $1250; Increase Permits Higher Faculty Salaries

Tuition in Harvard College and Radcliffe will increase from $1,000 to $1,250 for the academic year 1958-59, President Pusey revealed yesterday. The raise will make possible Significant increases in Faculty salaries also announced yesterday.

At the same time, the basic cost for students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Education will jump from $800 to $1,000.

The new rate is the College's fourth increase in ten years, and the fifth since 1929 when tuition stood at $400. The raise will make Harvard the most expensive college in the country.

In announcing the increases, President Pusey emphasized that "steps are being taken to raise the level of financial aid available for students who cannot meet the full cost of education." He said that major new programs were being worked out.

Scholarship Aid Uncertain

Last night Wilbur J. Bender, Dean of Admissions and Scholarships, said that as yet he did not know what specifically would be done to aid scholarship students with the new financial burden.

He said that the raise created "very serious problems" which he hoped could be solved within two months.

Bender stated that there would have to be expansion in all three financial aid areas--straight scholarships, loans, and student employment--but that he did not know what particular combination would be used.

He also noted that increased aid to students from corporations and the possibility of a multi-million dollar Federal scholarship program might provide help to the Committee on Scholarships in meeting the higher cost of education.

If the current tuition rise is handled as in the past, scholarship holders cannot be assured of receiving an across-the-board increase of $250. In 1956, when the tuition went from $800 to $1,000, the applications of scholarship holders were considered "on their own merits."

Keep Doors Open

In the statement announcing both the tuition and salary hikes, President Pusey said, "We are confident that by bold and imaginative measures in the area of financial aid to students we can see to it that Harvard is not cut off by its tuition charges from any large group of young men."

Over the past three years of rising costs, however, the percentage of public school graduates in the freshman class has declined 3.9 per cent, while the proportion of scholarship applicants has also decreased.

The President said that the present increase was necessary to give Faculty members a more equitable place in the national salary scale. "Since World War II, the salaries of colleges teachers have lagged behind the cost of living. This unfairness must be stopped, and the present increases in tuition are designed to help toward that end," he stated.