President Angell On Our Non-resident Students

In a recent letter to Senator Doran, President Angelí after giving the fees for resident and non-resident students, says: The total fees from non-residents, who constitute 52 per cent of all out of 2,420), are about 60,000 - twice as much as those from Michigan residents, which are about $30,000. Now, if all the non-resident stu- dents were excluded and we taught only the Michigan students, we could not diminish the annual expenses by more than $15,000. Therefore, in this way the non-residents profit us $45,000. The reason of this is that in the professional schools, where the proportion of non-residents is greatest, the instruction is given mainly by lecture, and it costs no more to lecture to 300 than 100. And in the titerary department, where the expense is most increased by increase of members, the additional teachers required are mainly in the lower classes which are largely taught by instructors whose salaries are small. In every department but the law the expenses are greater than the fees. But in the law, where the expenses for salaries are about $12,000, the fees amount to $25,000. The fees of the non-resident students alone in that department amount to 820,500, or $8,500 more than the salaries. We have twice raised the fees in the last fifteen years. In 1881 we did so, and it took us three years to get as much money from non-resident students as we had received be:ore, and it took us six years to regain the attendance. While it may )e judicious in view of the feeling in the matter to try raising them again, : am confident that for a time we should lose both students and income. It should be remembered that the education of the Michigan students is worth much more by reason of the presence of the students from all parts of the country. The mingling with them is itself an education in rnany respects more valuable than the instruction in the classroom. Many of the most valuable men in the state (Judge Grant for instance) have been brought here as students by the cheap rates for education, and have remained to bless the state. The utmost economy - unknown to other great universities - is practiced here. Our current expenses are about $200,000. Harvard, with fewer students spends from $600,000 to 700,000. Cornell, with about half our number spends half as much again. Yale spends considerably more than we.