COST OF EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19931, 27 April 1928, Page 14

COST OF EDUCATION.

COMPARISON CHALLENGED. REGISTRAR TAKEN TO TASK. ALLEGED ERROR IN FIGURES.

The claim that university education costs less per head than secondary school education, made recently by the registrar of Auckland University College, has been replied to by the secretary of the Auckland Grammar School Board, Mr, C. E. G. Tisdall.

In a report to the board yesterday Mr. Tisdall stated: "In the first place the Grammar Schools' roll number, on which the figures are based, is that of the final roll of 1926, that is, those pupils who remained on until the last day of the school year, although it is well known that quite a number of pupils leave at various times during the third term in order to secure positions in offices and shops before the general exodus from all schools takes place. Tho staff of teachers employed is based on the official roll on March 1, and teachers' salaries account for £34,764 out of a total of £41,097. The official roll for 1926 for the board's four schools was 2600, as against the 2394 of the final roll. Taking tlio registrar's own figures for Auckland University College, the 1444 students cost £23 ; 266, or £l6 2s 3d a head, and for tho four schools, 2600 pupils, £41,097, or £1.5 ,16s l£d a head. Thus it cost the State 6s lJrd a head less for a secondary school pupil, not £1 Is Id more, as shown by the registrar. "Secondly, it should be taken into consideration that a secondary school pupil receives 1100 hours of instruction a year, as against 156 hours of instruction received by a part-time student of the university. Only some 239 students out of 1444 take full-time courses at Auckland University College.

Number oI Students. "Again, the number of students per class has a bearing on the subject, for whereas there seems to be no limit to the size of a class taken by a professor at Auckland University College, the Grammar School classes are, according to regulations, limited to one master to 29 pupils, thus causing a larger expenditure per head per pupil than in the case of Auckland University College. Further, it must bo noted it is not the total cost of educating the university student with which the registrar deals, but only the cost to the State. Whita the £41,097 quoted as the cost of the Grammar Schools is the total cost because secondary education is free in the great majority of cases, the £23,266 quoted as the cost to the State of university students is far from being the total cost. The heavy fees paid by the students themselves are not taken into consideration at all and the last return shows that £10,500 was paid in fees."

Unwelcome Statements. Tho chairman, Professor A. P. W. Thomas, said the board hardly welcomed statements asserting that secondary school education cost more than it really did. Some of the statements were hardly fair and were founded on the wrong information.

Mr. G. Brownlee said it was necessary to take the cost of buildings into consideration. The cost of university buildings was a great deal per head more. "You cannot compare the teaching," he added; "one is a question of driving boys to work, the other resolves itself into giving instruction to adults." "We may say the registrar's arithmetic is good, but his figures are wrong," remarked Professor Thomas, in closing the discussion.