Coeducation, Tuition Hikes Cause Decline in Admission Applications

Coeducation at Princeton and Yale, plus tuition increases and student disorders at Harvard, add up to easier admissions to Harvard and Radcliffe in 1970.

Applications for the Class of 1974 at Harvard have fallen off by six per cent over the past year, and Radcliffe applications have declined by five per cent. For the second year in a row. Radcliffe will have to over-accept by one-third, instead of one-sixth. to fill its entering class because of the large number of women who will choose Princeton or Yale instead.

This is the first year in recent memory that applications have fallen at either Harvard or Radcliffe. Applications at Harvard in 1968 rose by seven per cent over the previous year, and last year's increase was twice that much. Radcliffe applications grew steadily by three per cent during the past two years.

Seven thousand nine hundred men have applied to Harvard so far this year, as compared to 8550 last year. Chase N. Peterson 52, dean of Admissions and Financial Aids, said last night that. "Our ?n notoriety of last Spring might have scared some students off. People feel that things are at such a political tempo here that serious scholarship is being discouraged."

Peterson also said that last year's $400 tuition increase probably discouraged prospective students from applying.

Radeliffe has so far received 2500 applicants, as compared to 2650 last year. David K. Smith 58, Radcliffe director of Admissions, said that the opening of Princeton and Yale to women might have caused some decline in applications to Radcliffe.

Until 1969, Radcliffe accepted 350 students to fill 300 places in its entering class. Smith said that 440 girls would be taken this year.