XXXIX. Student Life—Economic Side
During the Ninth Period, the students who were registered
from Virginia continued to be exempt from tuition
fees in all the academic courses, except the laboratory
one in chemistry. There was a small special fee in certain
branches of natural philosophy, analytical chemistry,
and geology. The matriculation fee, which had
amounted to forty dollars, had been, by this time, cut
down to ten. There was still a small deposit for contingent
expenses; and a still smaller fee for entrance
examinations. By students enrolled from other States,
the former fees for tuition, together with the laboratory
fees, were still payable; and they were also liable for the
matriculation fees without reduction.
In 1904–05, the fee for one year in six classes of the
law department was one hundred dollars; in more than
six classes, one hundred and fifteen; if less, the fee ranged
from eighty-five for five classes down to twenty-five for
one. In the department of medicine, at this time, the
fees descended, during the four-year course, from one
hundred and ten, in the first year, to sixty in the fourth.
The special fees, at their highest, did not exceed thirty-five
dollars, or at their lowest, fall below ten. In the
department of engineering, the tuition fee for one course
in applied mathematics was twenty-five dollars; in two or
more, fifty. The student following the regular line of
instruction for the degree of engineer was required to
pay a tuition fee of seventy-five dollars in the first year,
sixty-five in the second, sixty in the third, and fifty in the
fourth. The fees for the first year and second year
were increased during the session of 1905–06.
In 1908–09, there were three small fees which had to
be paid in all the departments: (1) the special examination
fee; (2) the delinquent registration fee, which was
demanded of every student who had failed to come forward
for registration during the first three days of the
session, or on the first week day after the expiration of
the Christmas holidays; (3) the re-examination fee, payable
by a student who had fallen below the minimum per
cent. for graduation, but not below seventy-five, and
who had petitioned for another opportunity to test his
knowledge when he should return in the following
September. None of these fees exceeded five dollars in
amount.
The matriculation fee,—which, in 1915–16, amounted
to forty dollars for the student registered from another
State beside Virginia, ten dollars for the Virginian enrolled
in the academic department, and twenty if enrolled
in the engineering,—entitled the payer to the
use of the general library, the advantages of the gymnasium
and its baths, the instruction of the director of physical
culture, and the attendance of the University physician,
in case of sickness. Two dollars, with the student's
consent, were deducted from the contingent fee for the
advancement of the religious work of the institution, and
the support of the chapel services. The male teachers
and superintendents of public schools were admitted to
the classes, during the last three months of the session,
without the burden of the usual fees; and this exemption,
throughout the nine months, was allowed to all ministers
of the gospel and candidates for holy orders.
The aggregate fees paid by each academic student,
according to his department, in 1915–16, were as follows:
in the college, if a Virginian, twenty dollars; if not
a Virginian, one hundred and thirty-five. These figures
did not include the charges for apparatus and laboratory.
In the department of law the aggregate fees were one
hundred and fifty; of medicine, one hundred and fifty
also; and of engineering, ninety-five, if the student was
a Virginian, and one hundred and fifty-five if he was not.
Students now, as formerly, were permitted to lodge
and obtain their meals within the University precincts,
or at their homes, or in boarding-houses situated without
the bounds, just as they might prefer.
In 1907, the ground was broken for a new dining-hall
at a spot situated at the south end of West Range. It
was expected that this establishment would lead to a reduction
in the board; that it would bring most of the
students together three times daily, and thus create a college
centre to promote intimacy; and that it would offer
a place for alumni banquets, fraternity dinners, and dinners
in honor of distinguished guests. It was estimated
that the structure would impose an outlay in building of
forty-five to fifty thousand dollars. The plan adopted
at first was to leave the management to a students' committee,
which was to look to certain members of the
Faculty for general advice. Upon this committee was
to rest the responsibility for the catering and for the
maintenance of economy and care in each department.
The monthly charge for board was to be fixed at ten dollars,
—omitting, however, the expense of meats, which
were to be paid for
a la carte. There was to be ample
accommodation for three hundred seats at table in the
hall; and the building was expected to be thrown open by
September, 1908. In reality, it was finished by June of
that year.
In the course of the session of 1908–09, two hundred
and twenty-two students ate their meals at the Commons;
but by November, 1909, this number had receded to one
hundred and forty. During 1910–11, there were one
hundred and sixty seated at the tables, and during 1911–
12, one hundred and eighty-three. This was about
twenty-five per cent. of the entire University registration
for that year; but this proportion was not satisfactory, in
spite of the fact that all those students who occupied
rooms in Randall Hall and on East Range were now required
to engage board in the Commons dining-room.
To such tenants, a reduction of their room-rent to one-half
the usual amount was allowed; but if the young men
eating their meals there had obtained their rooms in
other sections of the University dormitories, the cut in
the room-rent was one fourth only. These privileges
would indicate that the expectations from the Commons
had so far turned out to be disappointing. This failure
was attributed at the time to the existence of three
inimical facts: (1) lack of experience in the managers;
(2) hostility of the boarding-house keepers; and (3)
the suspicious attitude of the many students who considered
the Commons superfluous.
At first, the enterprise was an integral part of the
University economics. The bursar paid the bills, and he
sold the boarders the tickets which were issued monthly.
It was calculated, in 1909, that the cost of the supplies
would amount to $22,687.89, and the operating expenses
to $8,433.32. The income from the main sources apparently
did not exceed $28,946.59.
The first arrangement worked so unsatisfactorily that
it was decided to be best to lease the dining-hall to some
one who would take on himself the responsibility for the
payment and collection of bills, without looking beyond
the boarders for his compensation. It was to assure
him a definite number that the provision was retained
requiring the tenants of certain dormitories to occupy
seats at his table; but this regulation was subsequently
revoked. For his benefit, the monthly charge for board
was advanced from thirteen dollars and fifty cents to
fifteen dollars. The independent system went into
operation in September, 1912; and in the following
spring, a mass-meeting of the boarders was held to
protest against the meanness and shortness of the food
and the poor character of the management under the
Frenchman then in control, who received the remonstrance
with a gesture of fiery defiance. At this time,
the cost of board in private houses ranged from fifteen
dollars to twenty each month; and the food there was
probably superior to that of the Commons, both in quality
and quantity.
In 1904–05, the rent of the dormitories ranged from
twenty-five dollars to forty for the session. Each
student, whether one or two occupied a room, paid nine
dollars for service during the nine months. In 1907–08,
the rent of the dormitories ranged from thirty dollars to
fifty for that length of time. The cost of furnishing an
apartment was now estimated at fifteen dollars, while
the expense of fuel and light amounted, on the average,
to twenty-five for the nine months, and of laundry, to
fourteen.
During 1910–11, certain reductions in the fixed rents
of the dormitories were, as we have seen, granted to those
students who occupied seats at the Commons tables. A
majority of the rooms now had been made more convenient
and comfortable by the introduction of steam-heat
and electricity; and for these, the general charge had been
increased very substantially,—thus all the dormitories
on East Lawn and West Lawn, which possessed this
addition, were now rented for $74.75 apiece; on West
Range, for $71.50; on Dawson's Row, for $72.00; and
on Monroe Hill, for $54.00. These were the full rates.
The reduction in the rents for the boarders at Commons
was fixed at twenty-five per cent.—for instance, the
rooms on East Range were rented to such boarders for
$53.00; the single rooms in Randall's Building for
$35.00; and the double for $40.00. There was a small
advance in the charges for most of the dormitories before
the end of the session 1915–16.
The occupants of all these apartments had to supply
their own furniture at their own expense. The cost of
furnished rooms beyond the precincts at this time ranged
from five dollars to twenty monthly.
