1890-92 - University Archives and Records Center - University of ...

6o
This year we have returnd to the plan of two years ago, but the
caterer has entered into a written contract with the University to
furnish meals of specified quality and quantity at a definite price, of
twenty-five cents for each meal, or $3.50 for weekly board, in return
for which the .University furnishes the plant, coal and gas. At the
present date the arrangement is working well, and for the first time
a number of students, some fifty or more, are taking all their meals in
the dining hall.
I desire to call particular attention to the conspicuous lack of
endowment funds which can be used for the aid of deserving but
needy students. With the exception of the Baird Scholarship, yielding
about two hundred dollars, there is- absolutely not a dollar at our
command, for this purpose. It has always been the custom for a
special committee of the Board of Trustees to admit each year a
certain number of free students. This, of course, diminishes the
College income materially, and until last year, when a reorganization
in methods was introduced, this gift by the University from its income
was not shown upon the Treasurer's books.
Leaving but of consideration the City Prize and the Penn
Scholarships, this year over eleven thousand dollars will be granted
from this so-called students' aid fund. It becomes a serious question
whether, with the demands upon the income from all sides, it will be
possible to continue this liberality—certain it is that it cannot be
further extended. The creation of a capital fund to cover this and
a greater expenditure would widen our field of usefulness to a class
of students who need some assistance, and thus increase the total
number of undergraduates and put the College finances in excellent,
condition. If this is true of scholarships, it is not less true of
fellowships. We have but one income-yielding fellowship open to
mem In many institutions the possession of endowed fellowshipsrenders
much possible from which we are excluded.
It is a source of constant astonishment to those who are most
familiar with the financial condition of the College Department, that
without these material aids so much has been accomplished.
In very many departments of College instruction there is more
than one instructor and but one lecture or recitation room. A conflict
within the department for the use of the room is unaVoidable, and it
is necessary at times for one department to use the rooms of another:
This is extremely undesirable, as the special equipment of the department,
the books, maps, blackboards and illustrative material of all