Some Aid, Some Trade

The $887 million bill for federal aid to education passed last week is a sweeping reaffirmation of a principle well established by the Morrill Act of 1862, which set up financing for the nation's land-grant colleges, stated again in many lesser measures that followed, and restated in the vast G.I. Bill of 1944. The new measure is a compromise that provides for student loans but no undergraduate scholarships, although Alabama's Senator Lister Hill had asked for 40,000 scholarships, Alabama's Representative Carl Elliott 23,000 and President Eisenhower 10,000. But its passage was a clear victory for Sponsors Hill and Elliott and a sore defeat for hard-rock states-righters, especially Senator William E. Jenner, who doggedly defended the manger with a motion excluding Indiana from all benefits. In four days of hard haggling, Senate-House conferees laughed off Jenner's antics, slowly worked out a bill that gave the Senate, which had little to trade with, a few minor concessions for its reluctantly abandoned scholarship provision. The U.S. needs more federal aid to education than the compromise bill will give--for example, aid to school construction, not seriously considered this session--but by week's end the President had a measure worth signing. Provisions:

P: A wide program of student loans of up to $1,000 annually for five years (repayable by eleven years after graduation). Cost: $295 million altogether for the next four fiscal years. Special consideration will be given to students who want to teach in elementary or secondary schools, and to students with superior background in or capacity for science, mathematics, engineering or a modern foreign language. Half the sum of loans will be forgiven to students who teach for at least five years.

P: Grants to states of $280 million in matching funds to buy equipment for teaching math, science or modern foreign languages. Loans will be made to private schools for the same purpose.

P: An estimated $59.4 million program to enlarge the nation's Ph.D. population by passing out 5,500 three-year fellowships over the next four years. Stipends: $2,000 for the first year of study, $2,200 for the second, $2,400 for the third, plus allowances for dependents. In addition, the Government will compensate universities not more than $2,500 a year per student for the cost of developing new graduate programs or expanding existing programs.

P: $15 million a year in funds to be matched by states to assist in counseling and testing programs.

P: $7,250,000 a year for institutes training language teachers.

P: $8,000,000 a year for teaching little-known languages.

P: $15 million a year for the improvement of vocational education.

P: $18 million over four years for research in educational TV, radio and films.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.