University of Virginia Library

May I take this opportunity to submit the attached proposal for
revising the statement of fees on pages 34 and 35 in the catalogue of
the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. If these proposals meet with
your approval, would you please submit them to the Board for their
action if this is necessary.

Furthermore, I would like to establish some uniformity of overall
graduate student fees and costs, for students in all departments of the
Graduate School, where, because of the diverse subject matters to be
studied, there are considerable differences in the proportion of course

work to laboratory work and therefore, in the past, different rates of
tuition. It seems to me, that a candidate for the Doctor's degree should
pay full fees for at least two academic session while he is completing
his course program and the reduced fees for one or more academic sessions
while he is completing his research, dissertation, and other requirements,
of if the student requires more than three or four years because of
part-time employment, he should pay the equivalent, i.e., half-time fees
for four academic sessions plus the additional necessary sessions of
part-time fees.

Finally, I should like to propose that a limited amount of University
loan funds be made available to graduate students on a special basis.
Mr. Moyer advises me that some of the special loan funds do not seem to
be much used. Graduate students are mature, most of them with family
responsibilities, and the possession of a Doctor's degree means an
increase in their future salaries of up to a $1000 a year. Therefore, it
would be a sound financial investment for a graduate student to incur
even a substantial debt, in order to devote full-time to his degree
program and earn the degree promptly, rather than working part-time and
delaying his degree several years. Our regular graduate fellowships
will nearly support a single student for the nine months session, but it
is useless to offer a stipend of $1000 plus the tuition fee to a man
with a wife and one or two small children. There are even some single
students who must devote so much time and energy to an outside job for
support, that they are unable to earn the very high grades necessary for
them to compete successfully for a du Pont Fellowship, so they are caught
in a kind of vicious circle of never getting their head sufficiently
above water to be able to proceed full-time with their graduate work.

If these considerations seem to you to have some merit, would you be
willing to authorize a committee consisting of Mr. Shea, Mr. Vaughan,
myself and perhaps others, to submit some definite recommendations for
making loans in special cases, up to $1000 or $1200 a year at an interest
rate of 3%? With the prospect of additional fellowship programs from
both the federal government and charitable foundations, there will not be
a large number of cases requiring loans of this magnitude. However,
there will be individual cases in which a substantial loan will make a
great deal of difference.

"Students taking only one subject pay one-third of the regular
tuition fee, plus the library building, medical, Student Union, and
student activities fees. Students taking only two subjects pay one-half
of the regular tuition fee, plus all additional fees. Students taking
more than two courses are considered full-time students and pay all
tuition and auxiliary fees.

"Students not in residence at the University who wish to return to
take an examination, submit a thesis or dissertation, or receive a degree
pay a $5.00 tuition fee for that semester and are exempt from all other
fees. Students in residence who have completed their course programs,
and who are registered for thesis, dissertation or research, pay a
$15.00 tuition fee each semester, plus the library building, medical,
Student Union, and student activities fees."