'VARSITY FEES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 272, 16 November 1936, Page 12

'VARSITY FEES.

DEFERRED PAYMENTS' OVER £500 RECEIVED. STUDENTS' PROMISES KEPT. Realising the financial strain which j he depression had placed on many of . hose who wished to take a university •ourse, or were in the middle of one, the lutliorities of the Auckland University College at the beginning of 1931 introluced a scheme under which .the paynent of fees was held in abeyance until romiitions improved. Over £1000 was nvolved. It is considered that the lepression has now passed, and the mlinary method of payment of fees ,vill operate as from the beginning of lext year. It saya much for the efforts )f the students that of the £1000 about lalf has been repaid. Mr. M. E. O'Shea, registrar of the allege, explaining the scheme thi3 norning, said that the council realised j hat, for a student to be prevented by inancial disability from entering the university, or from completing a :ourse, would he nothing less than a :ragedy. It would have meant that ( nany of those about to start would lave had to abandon the idea and some .vould have been unable to complete ;lieir studies. Although the finances )f the college were far from satisfactory, it was felt that the college should lo ■ something. The scheme was the -esult, and the council was able to say that no student had been turned iwav for purely financial reasons. Students were invited to place their position before the registrar, who I informed them that they could attend lectures free of charge, and that they jould pay the amount of their fees when they had finished their course and had secured a permanent position which made payment possible. By this assistance many were able to begin sit the college and many were able to finish. The .payment of deferred fees, the registrar added, was largely a mattei | of honour, and it said a good deal foi the students that some £500 had been paid. A girl had come to him one day this year and had paid £(>0 in cash. Tiie good student, he said, never defaulted in matters of this kind, no matter how reduced in circumstances, or how long the payments might take. "The council had been pleased to see its faith justified," concluded Mr. O'Shea. "It has been a demonstration of the moral qualities of the average student, and of the fact that eac l year there is gathered at the college a fine body of young men and women.