More than 1,700 secondary school students applied for approximately 280 places in the Radcliffe Class of 1965, Mrs. Phillips Farrington, Acting Director of Admissions, disclosed yesterday.

The total represents a small increase over last year, in line with a general rise in applications to the Seven College Conference schools--Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley as well as Radcliffe.

Radcliffe and Wellesley reported the greatest increase in number of applicants, Mrs. Farrington noted, suggesting, "It may be the feeling of many girls that they want education near a large city."

The Radcliffe applicants graduated from approximately 1,100 secondary schools scattered across the country, but "we had an extremely strong group of applicants from the Midwest, especially lowa," Mrs. Farrington commented. She expected that the Class of 1965 will include a significantly greater percentage of Midwesterners than any previous one.

Foreign Students

In addition, Radcliffe has admitted two foreign students to next year's freshman class and four foreign students as transfers into the sophomore or junior class. The freshmen come from Uganda and the West Indies, the transfer students from Japan (two), Iran, and Turkey.

Ninety-one girls--nearly one-third of the freshman class--were accepted under the Early Decision Plan, Mrs. Farrington reported. More than 256 applied for the places.

Of the students admitted, 111 applied for financial aid, and the College has awarded stipends totaling $77,560 to 63 of these girls. Jacquelyn A. Mattfeld, Director of Financial Aid, expected from 10 to 15 of the represents to refuse Radcliffe in favor of other colleges, however, dropping the total to fewer than the 56 who received assistance in the Class of 1964.

Scholarships Higher

"Fewer girls will be holding scholarships next year, but the average award will be considerably higher," Mrs. Mattfeld explained. Last year the average stipend was $950; next year it will run about $1250 to match the over-all increase of $300 in tuition and room-and-board fees.