Proposed Applications

The proposed applications of this object vary as widely as the principles which animate them. There is, for example, the French suggestion for the payment of a certain sum of money at fixed intervals to every student who has passed the university entrance examination. There are many suggested modifications of this plan, which include, for instance, provisions for students at technical or agricultural colleges, and even for secondary school children, or provisions for sharing the responsibility with business and labour movements. And there are those who favour rather an extension of the present system of scholarships to include the payment of all fees, with subsidies for books, travelling expenses, board, and so on.

Each of these proposals, or modification of them, touches many fundamental issues, such as the prior rights of the family, the relation of the State to the individual, and to the university, and the extent of the bond between the university and the local community; and the principles behind the various schemes differ accordingly.

The April issue of Pax Romana quotes two answers to the major preliminary question: Is the student salary a matter of strict justice, a claim which the student has the right to make on the community