FINANCING THE UNIVERSITIES SK—There is a icmark in Stephen Toulmin's
idealistic article on financing the universities that cannot be allowed to pass without comment. He suggests that the universities should dispense with all Treasury subsidies and charge fees which would cover the expenses. 'Such an arrangement,' he writes, 'will not hit the pockets of 90 per cent, of students, whoSe fees are found for them out of the rates and taxes.' What, may I ask, about the other 10 per cent., who will then be hit even harder than they are now? If the proposed system will cause the Ministry of Education to award financial grants to those of us who are now holders of 'honorary' State Scholar, ships, then the scheme has my unqualified support, but otherwise there would be even more discontent and hardship among the oppressed minority.
I am an undergraduate at Cambridge, and I have two brothers who are also undergraduates, and we all hold State Scholarships (apparently, we are the only such family in the country, but there must be several that have two undergraduate members with State Scholarships). But the State has not yet given more than the usual honorarium of 150 p.a. to any of us, just because my father's gross income is above an arbitrary level. Since he has to pay some £1,500 for our education out of net income, his financial position is far more difficult than that of many other families, just below the income limit for a grant. 1-row much longer is this iniquitous state of affairs going to last? Advantage is taken of grants from the State at every opportunity, but men in the same position as myself invariably lose. For
instance, about a year ago, the Government an- nounced that it would pay the Amalgamated Clubs' subscription to Cambridge colleges, as part of the compulsory tuition fees. At once, nearly every college put up the Amalgamated Clubs' subscrip- tion, in order to get a bonus from the State, without a thought for the 'oppressed minority,' whose tuition fees were not paid by the State in the first place. Surely it is about time that the winner of a scholar- ship in open competition should be rewarded? Presumably, if Mr. Toulmin's suggestions are carried out, the cost of university education will -become prohibitive without a grant, so the Govern- ment will have to see a way of rewarding all scholar- ship holders—this will indeed be an additional advantage of Mr. Toulmin's suggestions.
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