University of Virginia Library

XII. The Students—Their Number and Expenses

During the long interval between February, 1825, and
June, 1904, approximately sixteen thousand young men

matriculated in the University of Virginia. Beginning
with the session of 1896–97, and ending with the session
of 1903–04,—the Eighth Period,—the total enrolment
from Virginia fell little short of twenty-seven hundred,
with an annual enrolment averaging about three hundred
and thirty-six. The attendance from all the States
grew from five hundred and four in 1896–97, to six hundred
and thirteen in 1903–04,—an average attendance
during these eight sessions of five hundred and ninety-five
for each session. The total for the entire Eighth Period
closely approximated four thousand, eight hundred matriculates.
One-fourth of this number were admitted
from Virginia. The attendance from the other States
had increased from two hundred and twenty-one in 1896–
97 to two hundred and sixty-seven in 1903–04. Thirty-two
commonwealths were, during this interval, represented
in the enrolment; all the Southern were to be found
in it; and of the Northern, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania,
Connecticut, Montana, California, Indiana, Kansas,
Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio,
Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. The total attendance
from these Northern States, during the session
of 1896–97, was thirty-one students; during the session
of 1903–04, fifty-two.

Not until the session of 1899–1900 did the number of
matriculates pass the highwater mark recorded for the
session of 1856–57,—the enrolment for the two sessions
was respectively six hundred and sixty-four and six hundred
and forty-five students. During the sessions of
1901–02 and 1903–04, the number again declined below
that of 1856–57. The increase in the general attendance
was attributable, in the first place, to the growing population
of the Southern States, with its accompanying
accumulation of wealth; and, in the second, to the influence

of the local alumni associations, which had begun
to show a thoroughly practical interest in the prosperity
of their alma mater.

At a meeting of the Faculty, held in March, 1899, Virginia
was divided into groups of counties, and to each
group a professor was assigned, with instructions to
start upon a canvass among its citizens, with a view to persuading
them to send to the University such of their
sons as were fully prepared to enter its classes. There
had already been appointed one committee to solicit endowments
and benefactions; a second, to conduct a literary
and correspondence bureau; and a third to keep the
run of the affairs of the numerous alumni chapters.

The following table indicates the proportion of students
attending the different departments at the begin
ning and at the end of the Eighth Period:

             

	1895–6	1903–4
Academic	250	299
Engineering	14	58
Law	110	190
Medicine	168	164
	___	___
Total	542	711

Anterior to the Eighth Period, 1896–1904, the session
began on October 1, and terminated on the last Wednesday
that came before the third day of July. After the
close of the session of 1896–97, the scholastic year seems
to have begun on September 15 and ended on the Wednesday
that preceded June 19.

The vexed question of granting a formal holiday at
Christmas was broached for decision again in November,
1895. The Faculty, with the Board's full approval, set
apart the interval between December 21 and December
28 as the period for the suspension of lectures; but before

six months had passed, they were of the opinion that
their recommendation to this effect should be recalled.
They had gone back to their original attitude of hostility
to the proposal under the influence of the revived conviction
that a holiday at this time of the year was detrimental
to the welfare of the University, in addition to
being repugnant to the wishes of a large proportion of the
students, who were anxious to avoid any interruption in
their work. The Board having refused to shift around
to this view, the Faculty, at a meeting held in the June
of 1897, declared, by a vote of twenty to two, that, in
their judgment, the Christmas holiday, if it had to be
established, should run from December 23 to December
28. One of the most tenable objections to the adoption
of such a holiday was removed by the division of the session
into three terms, the first closing on the second day
before Christmas. In 1898, the Board of Visitors unanimously
decided that the Christmas vacation should last
during the whole interval between December 20 and January
2.

A motion that April 13 should be marked by a suspension
of lectures also, was rejected, in 1903, at a meeting
of the Faculty; but Founder's Day seems to have been
celebrated as early as 1900–01 byexercises in the evening,
the most important part of which was an address by an
invited speaker of distinction. Thanksgiving Day, however,
had, by this date, been adopted as a college holiday.

In the course of 1888, a mass meeting of students was
held in the public hall to consider the expediency of altering
the University colors. Hitherto these colors had
very appropriately consisted of silver gray and cardinal
red,—the gray having been suggested by the tint of
the Confederate uniform, the red by the blood with

which it had been dyed on so many heroic battlefields.
The passion for athletic sports was now all-engrossing,
and it was imagined that these colors, in spite of their
inspiring patriotic associations, were not suitable for athletic
uniforms; and in addition, that, even if they were,
the gray tint would soon, with hard and rough wear, begin
to fade. How was it possible to obtain a combination
that would successfully resist the test of the rudest
and longest use? This question was so difficult for decision
that the brains of the entire audience were said to
have been, for the time being, paralyzed by an emotion
of complete perplexity. Suddenly, as if by a revelation
from another sphere, the problem which was confusing
so many bright intellects was solved. The recorder of
the event thus relates the story: "Mr. Allen Potts had
come in in his football clothing, being on his way to the
field. He had about his neck a very large silk handkerchief
striped navy blue and orange. A student pulled
this handkerchief from his neck, waved it, and cried out,
'How will this do?' The students adopted the combination
without opposition. It is said that the handkerchief
was a waist handkerchief that the English college men
used at that time instead of a belt. Mr. Potts had got
it at Oxford the previous summer, with a lot of boating
clothes."

As might have been expected and predicted, this abrupt
discardal of the old colors, with their splendid historical
memories, and the adoption of a bald substitute under
the influence of circumstances so casual and so trivial,
stirred up a feeling of opposition in the breasts of those
members of the Faculty who remembered the silver gray
and the red in their college years. "The bloody gray
of the old Confederate was good enough for the first generation,"
said Professor William H. Echols, "and it remained

for a younger to discern that it would not take
water well, and that blue and orange would be better, in
imitation of Princeton's orange and black; and here comes
Princeton saying that her real colors are orange and blue.
Let the University of Virginia go back to the colors of her
battlefields, which she carried to the front of Virginia
crews for eight successive years over all the waters of
Virginia."

After the session of 1895–96, there was a tendency in
the general charges of the University to advance. The
matriculation fee was now forty dollars; the contingent
fee, ten. The payment of the former entitled the student,
not only to the use of the books in the library, but
also to the enjoyment of all the advantages of the gymnasium,
including, besides free baths and free lockers, gratuitous
physical examination and instruction; the right, in
case of illness, to be attended by a member of the medical
faculty, without expense to the patient; and also without
expense to be nursed, should it become necessary for him
to be removed to the infirmary for treatment. The contingent
fee, now, as formerly, was to cover the cost of repairing
injuries to books, or to settle fines imposed for
violations of the rules, should either occur. The tuition
fees varied according to the school and department.
The general academic fee was still proportioned to the
number of studies,—there were still special charges only
in the case of the laboratory courses, or courses belonging
to a prearranged series of lectures. The only expense
for tuition that was borne by the students from Virginia
was incurred in the laboratory courses. All the professional
departments, as the table offered further on will
show, still retained their original scale of charges.

It was estimated that the cost of board, fuel, lights,
servants' attendance, and laundry, would not exceed

eighteen dollars a month; but there is reason to think that
the majority of the matriculates, during the Eighth Period,
1896–1904, spent for these purposes from twenty
to thirty dollars every thirty days; and many were led
to indulge in an even greater outlay of money for the
same objects. The following table sums up the average
charges during the session of 1899–1900, which was substantially
representative of all the sessions embraced in
this period.

           

Department	University Fees	Tuition	Books	Living Expenses	Total
Academic	$40.00	$75.00	$15.00–$25.00	$135–$270	$265–$400
Engineering	40.00	100.00	15.00–25.00	135–270	290–425
Agricultural	40.00	75.00	15.00–25.00	135–270	265–400
Medical	40.00	88.00	20.00	135–270	315–450
Law	40.00	100.00	45.00	135–270	320–455

In 1902, it was calculated that the living expenses of
the average matriculate varied from one hundred dollars
to two hundred and seventy, in the course of a single session.
Some of the young men, it was asserted, were able
to reduce their outlay on this account to a still lower figure.
In order to meet the needs of the members of the
student body who were compelled to subsist on the most
economical footing, the Faculty, in 1903, recommended
that a loan fund should be created by setting aside for
that purpose all the sums due at the end of each session
by those young men who had been credited with their University
and tuition fees at the beginning of their terms;
that out of this fund, definite amounts should be loaned
on notes to such individuals as would otherwise be unable
to enter; and that a permanent committee should be appointed
whose duty should be to find manual labor in the
University and its neighborhood, which would, by the income
it would afford, enable indigent students to acquire

the money that would be needed to pay the general fees
of admission.