Were you just about to pay your fall tuition and your Coop bill? Stop.

Bookies--friendly, charming, sagacious, useful members of society though they are--rarely have been known for their charity. But this week the sporting gentle men have made two errors in judgement which are tantamount to a gift for every member of America's betting fraternity.

Each week "da boys" quote point spreads on major football games across the country. In the Ivy League this week they have rated the Dartmouth-Yale game at virtually even odds, and established Cornell a slim one-point choice over Columbia.

A two-team parlay of Cornell and Dartmouth, which would yield about a 200 per cent profit, is an investment which makes buying AT&T stock look like a wild speculation.

Yale Bumbles On

Yale, which was everybody's pre-season Ivy choice, has disappointed in game after game this season. Although the Bulldogs are still unbeaten, they were held to a 9-9 tie by weak Columbia and barely managed to squeak past Cornell last week 23 to 21. Dartmouth's record is blemished by a 37-7 loss to Princeton, but the team has improved markedly since that humiliation. The Indians whipped Brown, 24 to 14, and last week looked like pros clobbering Harvard, 48 to 0.

A prudent investor might argue that Yale is overdue for a "big game," and that Dartmouth is bound to suffer a letdown after beating the Crimson. But late news from New Haven suggests that this is unlikely.

Yale's roster looks like the supporting cast for a Ben Casey show. Among the injured are halfbacks Jim Groninger and Pete Cummings, the second and fourth leading rushers on the team; and guards Ralph Vandersloot and Chris Beutler.

These injuries should enable Dartmouth to key on Yale's star fullback Chuck Mercein, and should help blast big holes open in the Eli defense.

On the surface, Columbia appears a logical choice over Cornell. Comparative scores show that Harvard beat the Lions 3 to 0, and the Big Red, 16 to 0. But these scores are deceiving. Cornell consistently outplayed the Crimson, but torrential rain and a slippery football gave Harvard the breaks which won it the game.

Columbia is essentially a one-man football team: Archie Roberts. As Harvard proved, the way to contain Archie is to prevent him from getting his passes off. Cornell has the deepest, most experienced line in the League; Roberts will be spending most of the game on his back.

Princeton Favored

In the other Ivy League game this week, Brown plays host to Princeton. The unbeaten Tigers, lead by their powerful fullback Cosmo Iaccavazi, have been installed a 7 1/2-point favorite. The point spread seems to be accurate, though the Bruins have an unpredictable squad capable of pulling an upset. In other words, it's not worth a bet.

But our Cornell-Dartmouth parlay is a pure blue chip. The only conceivable reason for not investing your life savings on the combination--aside from lack of faith in CRIMSON infallibility--is a moral deterrent: it's awful to see a bookie cry.