Harris' Plan For Finances Under Attack

The greatly expanded program of student loans recently advocated by Seymour E. Harris '20, Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Political Economy, has been criticized by Wallace McDonald '44, Director of the Financial Aid office, and Fred L. Glimp '50, Director of Freshman Scholarships.

Glimp predicted that the growing trend toward aid in the form of loans may lead in the next five or ten years to a battle over the relative merits of loans and scholarships.

"Loans are definitely increasing in relative importance," Glimp pointed out, adding that "a danger inherent in this trend is that a lot of emphasis on loans may cause colleges to neglect scholarships."

Glimp expressed the belief that such an effect would be disastrous, because he feels "very strongly that college scholarships are the most sensibly generous device that any American institution can make use of."

Harris Discounts Scholarship Need

Harris stated, "If my plan really got going, we wouldn't need scholarships except as prizes in competitions. In fact, the tendency now is to give part of most grants in loans."

McDonald maintained that de-emphasis of scholarships would meet with resistance--"If you have a scholarship which dates back to the 17th century and you try to change the use of the funds, you have a nearly impossible legal task." He observed that if scholarships are made less desirable, the yearly $1 million earmarked for scholarships that the Financial Office depends upon might easily be lost.

McDonald conceded that "it has been vividly illustrated that low-interest loans are an integral part of the program," and he asserted that loans are not and cannot be the whole program.