University and College Expenses

Summary

Before entering upon this head it must be premised that it is only a small part of the expense of a University education which arises from fees or payments that are alike for whole classes of Students.

College arrangements are so framed as to admit of the Undergraduates living together, all something in the same way, and dining at a common table, but so as to allow a considerable discretion to each in fixing his own scale of expenditure and style of living. This is rendered necessary by the various circumstances of the several students, and any attempts to enforce economy or uniformity by strict sumptuary rules would be found as obnoxious to parents as to the students themselves. They would be at variance with the principle that, inasmuch as students come to the University to learn among other things to exercise responsibility and self guidance, they must be dealt with, on the supposition that they may safely be trusted with considerable independence.

The fixed charges for College tuition and College and University payments together amount to about .£21 a year, the cost of the dinner provided in Hall varies from £14 to £20 a year; so far the expenses are compulsory, but a Student living in lodgings may provide himself with everything else that he requires just as if he were not a member of a College, though the majority find it more convenient to be supplied from the College butteries.