The resident student will perhaps receive not so much benefit from the N.Y.A. as the Commuter except indirectly. However, a fairly good chunk of the appropriation should be left over for the Houses and the Union when Dudley is taken care of. Library work, preparation of museum and library exhibits, and art work are all possible uses for the funds.
Another important field is social service work, which is now carried on on a purely voluntary basis at Harvard. At several colleges the institutions which correspond to Phillips Brooks House have been enabled to pay any volunteers who fall inside the N.Y.A. qualifications.
Typical Student
Let us examine the case of a typical student at Harvard to see what the effect of N.Y.A. on the individual will be. Supposing that N.Y.A. were to be taken up by the University, let us say that Eli Harvard '44 decides next fall that he is eligible for a job under the program. Eli is the recipient of a $200 scholarship and he holds down a $200 T.S.E. job in his House library.
A Group III man, he decides that he can handle another job for some extra money, not necessarily to pay his term bill entirely, but also to go home at Christmas time or to buy much-needed new clothes. (The N.Y.A. considers either of these purposes as contributing to a "proper" education, and the program is carried on for the express purpose of permitting students to "continue properly their education.")
Eli goes to the Student Help office and is given an application which, in its form, much resembles the ordinary Harvard College scholarship application, except that on the back of it he must certify his United States citizenship. After a certain amount of formal red tape has been untangled, Eli is given a job, working 26 hours a month at $50 an hour, mimeographing Psychology outlines in Emerson Hall. His $13 a month will not net hem more than $100 a year. It may be that his T.S.E. job will be cut to a certain extent, let us say $50. He will then make a net increase of income of $50.
That amount can be considered as the marginal fund which makes his year a success instead of a drudgery. If Eli is a commuter instead of a House member, for instance, the extra money may enable him to join Dudley Hall, (where he can meet fellow students and relax) instead of having to eat his lunch out of a paper bag in Boylston Reading Room. All concerned will benefit.
CONCLUSIONS
98% of the colleges and universities in the country have N.Y.A. student work programs. Included are Yale, Princeton, Radcliffe, M.I.T., Dartmouth Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, etc. It is unfair that students attending Harvard should not receive similar opportunities to earn an education.
Furthermore, it would be far better in its relations with the public for Harvard to join the others in applying for N.Y.A. aid, than to remain aloof and possibly be considered plutocratic.
Other Solutions Unsatisfactory
Other solutions for Harvard students' financial problems have been suggested.
1) Student waiting in the Houses. But this would result in the discharge of many waitresses. And if students can get better and more helpful jobs through N.Y.A., why should they be forced to wait on tables?
2) Special loans and grants to students. But neither the College nor the Student Council has sufficient funds. The Student Council is rarely able to satisfy more than 65% of the requests for its scholarships, and College scholarships and loans are never equal to the demand.
In conclusion the Student Council Committee believes the N.Y.A. Student Work Program to be the solvent of many of the difficulties of the students at Harvard University. We earnestly hope that the authorities of the University will give the plan their most favorable consideration.