There are 900 private colleges and universities in the U.S. which depend on their own resources for survival. Last week most of them were shaking in their boots. One reason had been building up over the last decade: a combination of mounting costs (up 70% since 1941) and dwindling endowments. Another was a question which sprang up with the beginning of the war in Korea and struck at the heart of the college population: How many students will the colleges lose to the armed services?
President Truman's plan for deferring superior students (TIME, April 9) was no solid answer. It was still...