Pusey Defends Federal Aid to Private Colleges

President Pusey yesterday supported Federal aid to all institutions of higher education--public and private--and aid to secondary schools--public only. He based his stand on what he termed a pragmatic concern--helping to educate the largest number of students.

"The overwhelming majority of high school and pre-high school students attend non-private institutions, and because the need is so great we should get together to aid only public schools," Pusey said. At the college level, the President continued, a large proportion of students is in private institutions, and so aid to private universities--as well as public--would aid the greatest number of students.

"There is a difference between support to private institutions at the high school level and support to private education at the university level," stated Pusey.

He said that private institutions at the college level are almost like public institutions in their sources of income. He cited the large use of public funds by private universities like Harvard and the large private endowment of public universities such as the University of Texas.

The President also mentioned two changes he would like to see in the Kennedy bill for aid to education. Pusey said that he disapproved of the plan to have state boards allot federal scholarship money. "The federal government should give the funds directly to the colleges," he said, "and let their officers handle it."

Calls for Matching Grants

He also called upon Congress to include in the bill matching grants from the government to combine with money raised by the universities for various projects. Federal matching grants for residential buildings, according to Pusey, are not unprecedented and were provided by the Eisenhower administration.

At a press conference yesterday Pusey confirmed a University policy against accepting federal funds to finance permanent appointments.

Federal programs do not provide endowment or assurance that a professorship will be continued. "The Corporation," Pusey stated, "will not enter into a lifetime commitment to an individual when Congress can cut off the salary funds for a permanent appointment at any time."

The money used to pay many Faculty members "is eventually traceable to one federal agency or another," but the University reserves the right to make the allotments, Pusey said.