New York Colleges Prepare for the Veterans

Abstract

A HALF-MILLION veterans will be discharged into New York State during the first six months of I946. Recent samplings made by the Veterans Administration and the State Education Department indicate that one-sixth of this group will want to enter college this summer or fall. Altogether, there will be more than a million and a half veterans returned to New York State. Because some are older and have dependents, they will not be so likely to continue their education in college. However, it is conservative to estimate that at least one hundred fifty thousand veterans from New York State will seek education on the college level and at least one hundred thousand of those will try to enter college in I946. Prior to the war the colleges in New York State enrolled slightly more than one hundred five thousand full-time students. The number of veterans already returned to college, in addition to the recent high-school graduates now in college, has raised attendance figures from their wartime lows to something closely approximating their pre-war enrollments. The problem is to find places for an additional one hundred thousand students by the fall of I946. An emergency housing board has been established in New York State with an appropriation of $35,000,000 to be used in relieving the general housing shortage for veterans. Recognizing that providing temporary housing for colleges would help solve the double problem of education and housing of veterans, Governor Dewey called a conference of all college presidents on March 7 and 8. In anticipation of this conference, the State Education Department sent a letter to the colleges which pointed out that many had classrooms in use only two or three periods a day. Some have laboratories which are used only a few afternoons a week. By increasing the size of classes, by adding extra sections, or by installing second shifts and operating the educational plant six days a week and from early morning to late at night, many more students could be accommodated. The colleges were asked how many of these adjustments they could make and how many extra students they could enroll this fall. The replies indicated that educational places could be made available for more than one hundred forty thousand students. Governor Dewey's offer to provide temporary housing for veterans in colleges and to assist in the conversion