1917] EDITORIAL. 703 



intended, although numerical data were gathered so far as readily 

 available. Opinions were also sought as to any obvious changes in 

 the character of the enrollment, as in age of students, relative pro- 

 portion from farms and cities, proportion of men and women, pur- 

 pose in coming to college, selection of courses of study, and similar 

 matters, and especially as to the apparent underlying causes for 

 such changes as were noted. 



Information was supplied on some of these points by 48 insti- 

 tutions, located in 42 States and Hawaii. The reports covered 

 nearly all sections of the country, and it is believed are represen- 

 tative of the situation as a whole. Although the inquiry necessarily 

 reached the presidents, deans, and registrars at an exceptionally busy 

 period, in most cases very complete data were furnished by these 

 officials, through whose courteous response the preparation of this 

 summary is made possible. 



The data available indicate very clearly that a considerable shrink- 

 age in total student enrollment in higher education occurred quite 

 generally throughout the country. For the land-grant institutions 

 this apparently averaged slightly over 20 per cent. In no institu- 

 tion reporting was there any considerable gain, although in such 

 widel}^ separated States as North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, 

 Texas, and Virginia, substantially the registration of the previous 

 year was maintained. On the other hand, decreases of nearly 50 

 per cent were encountered in a large university of the Middle West 

 and a small southwestern college. The average percentage of falling 

 off for the group, however, was probably less than for many of the 

 oldest and best known universities of the country, press reports an- 

 nouncing, for instance, decreases of about 40 per cent for Harvard, 

 Yale, and Princeton. 



As regards students in agriculture, the showing is considerably 

 less favorable than for total enrollment. The average decrease for 

 the institutions reporting was slightly over 30 per cent and in num- 

 erous cases exceeded 50 per cent. Some sectional variation was 

 noticeable, several southeastern colleges maintaining their previous 

 registration and others falling only slightly below it, while losses 

 were exceptionally heavy in the Southwest and in the Middle 

 West. 



On the other hand, the average decrease in the mechanic arts was 

 approximately only 15 per cent and did not exceed 36 per cent for 

 any institution. Four colleges reported gains of from 11 to 14 per 

 cent, and in eight others the loss was under 10 per cent. These com- 

 paratively small losses were apparently typical of the technical 

 schools in general, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for 

 instance, reporting a loss of 18 per cent and the Carnegie Institute of 

 Technology one of 16 per cent. 



