COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE.
(TO Toe EDITOR OF TkIll 'SPECTATOR."] Son,—" During the week beginning Tuesday, December 4th, there were some 430 boys being examined for scholarships and exhibitions at Cambridge. Of these, if we neglect the exhibi- tions and sizarships, of which about 50 have been awarded, we find that 95 scholarships were given between the twelve colleges examining at this date." Thus writes the Cambridge correspondent in the Times of December 21st, 1906, and he goes on to show that the annual value of the ninety-five scholarships awarded came to £4,900. There remain five more Cambridge Colleges which presumably give scholarships; and Oxford Colleges are no less prodigal of their funds in this direction, though the pecuniary emoluments are not usually so baldly stated at Oxford as at Cambridge. It may be taken, then, that an annual income of some £10,000 to £12,000, lasting perhaps on an average for three years, is now being awarded in College scholarships alone among some two hundred to two hundred and fifty young men who will begin residence at Oxford and Cambridge next October. How many of these young men would be debarred from their University life by the want of the money thus offered to them, and accepted by them or their parents on their behalf, probably without any real thought as to the position P Most of your readers will
know one or more of the successful candidates, and will know, too, that the money, however welcome and pleasant, is not necessary to enable the newly elected scholar to proceed to the University. It is otherwise with the sizars and exhibitions. From these the College authorities require, and properly require, a declaration that pecuniary assistance is needed in order to enable them to obtain a University education. Now is there any sound reason why a similar declaration should not be required in the case of scholars also, as a condition of their receiving pecuniary emolument ?
I have before me the prospectus of one large group of Cambridge College scholarships, which states that it is open to candidates to signify their wish not to receive the emolu- ment of scholarships if elected to them, and thus to become honorary scholars. A study of the last Cambridge list does not, however, reveal on the face of it that candidates took ad- vantage of this permission in more than two or three instances. It is probably felt that, as things stand, there is no point in giving up a scholarship of £60 or £80 in order that it may be taken by some other young man quite as well, or• perhaps better, off whose parents are less squeamish. But has not the time come for• a revolution of opinion in this matter ? Ought not this large academical revenue which is now so often misapplied to be devoted to really useful purposes, such as helping truly poor and deserving scholars, and providing funds for the proper• equipment of branches of study which are now starved for want of buildings, apparatus, and teachers ? By all means keep the dignity and distinction of College scholarships. Let the fortunate young men who win them have all the present privileges of rooms and special places in chapel and in hall, and the sense that they are members of the College Foundation and have won honour for their school. But let us endeavour to effect a complete change of attitude as regards the taking of money by those who do not need it. There will no doubt be cases where parents with comfortable commercial or professional incomes, feeling a proper concern for the possible future of widow and children, may desire to keep a hold upon the pecuniary emolument of a scholarship in case of death or loss of income. But these cases could easily be provided for• in consultation with the College authorities.
This misuse of endowments is, of course, a very wide question, and it is one which the Labour Party will certainly before long bring to the point in Parliament. The mischief is not confined to the old Universities. It is at least as potent in the endowed schools, and in particular• at Eton, Winchester, and Charterhouse, where the Foundations are largely occupied by the sons of parents who have been able to afford to pay for five or six years' expensive education at one of the few well-known preparatory schools which now between them almost monopolise the successful candidates. Let the change of attitude in this matter begin with the classes by which the Universities and public schools are now chiefly used. Let us see that it is no longer the wealthy parent but the poor one who obtains assistance for his children from educational endowments, and that wealth and opportunity no longer• crowd out poverty and natural ability.—I am, Sir, &c., H. W. S.
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