The Colleges' Turn

Education, as Lyndon Johnson has repeatedly observed, is the door to the Great Society, and the 89th Congress has been eager to unbolt it. The $1.3 billion Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed just before the Easter recess, stirred great interest among constituents back home, and Congressmen have been even more enthusiastic about the Administration's companion bill, which authorizes new subsidies for colleges and universities. By the time it reached the House floor last week, Adam Clayton Powell's Education and Labor Committee had more than dou bled the Administration's original request for $260 million to finance the bill during its first year.

Biggest single boost was an amendment doubling the previously authorized $290 million in federal grants for construction of graduate and undergraduate facilities. As approved by Powell's committee after only 20 minutes of debate, the 1965 Higher Education Act would cost $624.5 million in its first year. Its main provisions are four separate five-year programs calling for:

> The nation's first system of federal scholarships (up to $800 a year per student), for which an initial$64.4 million was requested to help an estimated 130,000 needy scholars this year.

> Improved teaching at small colleges through such inducements as federal fellowships for junior faculty members at large institutions who are willing to accept posts at smaller ones, at a cost of $30 million the first year.

> $50 million in grants for expanding adult extension courses and for research by city colleges on urban problems.

> $65 million for expansion of college libraries through grants for facilities, training of personnel, and research in library science.

After only four hours of debate, the House passed the bill by an overwhelming roll-call vote of 367 to 22 and sent it to the Senate, which is considering additional proposals of its own.

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