April 21, 1934

Returning from a month’s tour of preparatory schools, President MacCracken said in an interview with The New York Times that families seemed to be adjusting to the severe economic situation in ways that consider education a priority. Families, he said, “are including educational allowances in their budgets. They would rather sacrifice anything than have their children forego the benefits of a college education.”

Noting that withdrawal rates “have remained so low,” MacCracken declared, “Once a girl comes here, we help her all we can to enable her to stay in college.” Seventeen students had withdrawn in 1933-34, more than half of them, he said, because of poor health.

President MacCracken mentioned also that a recent study comparing the regions of the country from which the 916 students in 1903-04 and the 1,216 in the present year had come showed little change.