College and University Student Work Programs : Implications and Implementations

The history of financial assistance to students in high schools, colleges, and universities in this country underlies what the authors of this book see as a changing educational philosophy. From the founding of Harvard College in 1636, and its effort to provide employment for needy students, to money allocations made to land-grant colleges after the Civil War, and to the recent federal enactments, it is clear that there has been a shift from the concept of financial aid for only needy students to the con­cept of work-study programs as an integral part of the total educational process. This view is supported by the fact of current large federal ap­propriations for the development of such programs and by the fact that co-operative work-study programs have become a part of academic planning.

A measure of the importance of this study may be derived from these figures: of the 7.6 million students in American universities and colleges at the present time, one in four participates in federally-financed aid programs; of the 2,242 million dollars in student aid granted in 1967, 70 percent came from the federal government in the form of work-study programs, outright grants, loans, and scholarships; and in large uni­versities, from one-fourth to one-half of all students receive some sort of financial assistance.

An important part of this work are the descriptions of work-study programs in operation in various universities and colleges. In addition, the authors’ conclusions and recommendations for structuring work-study programs will be valuable to administrators, counselors, and educators in general.