Chapter IV. Enrollments and Salaries

Specialization, realignment of groupings of subject-matter fields, the creation of independent special schools from arts and science departments, the whole series of developments that have transformed the college of arts and sciences until it is something quite different from its somewhat elusive liberal and nonvocational predecessornone of these changes means that the arts and science subjects are on the wane in the land-grant institutions in so far as attendance of students and standards of support afford evidence.

More than one-fifth-21.8 per cent-of all resident undergraduate students in the entire United States were enrolled in the 52 landgrant colleges in 1927-28. This does not include students in summer schools, secondary divisions, or extension or correspondence courses. More students are enrolled in arts and science courses than in any other department or division in the land-grant colleges. Practically one-third of all land-grant students have been enrolled in arts and science courses in the past 10 years. Enrollments in arts and science courses over a period of years show that the land-grant colleges have experienced a continual growth in this field. Table 2 shows the enrollment in land-grant institutions of arts and science students in comparison with enrollments in the colleges of engineering and agriculture in the same group of colleges and universities.

TABLE 2.-Enrollments in land-grant colleges by certain courses of study'

1920-21

1921-22

1922-23_

1923-24

1924-25

1925-26

1926-27.

1927-28.

1928-29

Arts and science

Engineering

Agriculture

Year

Total students in all under

Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent graduate

1 Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1929, No. 13, and unpublished figures by W. J. Greenleaf.

Only two institutions of those making special reports to the survey on the topic show loss of students in arts and science subjects over the 5-year period 1923-1928.

It is interesting to note that 40 per cent of the 4-year resident students are freshmen, 27 per cent are sophomores, 19 per cent are juniors, and 14 per cent are seniors. In spite of the fact that enrollments increase from year to year, these proportions have remained

sufficiently constant to justify the estimate that, roughly, there are three times as many in the freshman class as in the senior class, that one-third of the freshmen drop out before the sophomore year, that one-half leave before the junior year, and that two-thirds are eliminated before the senior year.

The facts concerning enrollments in arts and sciences are confirmed by data in regard to degrees granted in arts and sciences. Arts and science degrees awarded by all colleges and universities in the United States totaled 27,263 first degrees to men and 26,302 first degrees to women. Of these, 13 per cent

were granted by the 48 land-grant institutions which offer arts and science degrees; Connecticut Agricultural College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Montana State College, and Oregon Agricultural College are not included, since they do not offer such degrees. In 1927-28 the land-grant institutions conferred 6,947 first degrees in arts and sciences-3,481 bachelor degrees to men and 3,466 to women.

Of arts and science degrees, the ratio is practically 50 per cent to men and 50 per cent to women, but the ratio of undergraduate men

to undergraduate women has been constant for the past decade-70 per cent men and 30 per cent women. There is a greater tendency on the part of the women to elect arts and science courses.

The importance of arts and sciences is further emphasized when degrees are shown graphically over a period of years. Chart 1 pictures the relationship of arts and sciences with three other outstanding land-grant college divisions. Engineering has consistently for

the past 10 years granted more degrees to men than any other department. Arts and sciences, however, has been a close rival and in 1929 the difference in number of degrees awarded in these two subjects amounted to only 228. The losses in agricultural degrees seem to have been absorbed by engineering and arts and science courses. With the women, however (Chart 2), arts and sciences have consistently been the favorite courses with education and home economics a poor second and third. Prior to 1925 there were more degrees granted in home economics than in education, but since that time education has outstripped home economics so that in 1929 while 1,482 degrees were granted in the latter, 2,266 degrees were awarded in education. But arts and sciences awarded a total of 3,802 degrees to women.

Nor has the financial support afforded arts and sciences declined with its changing form and goal. Quite the contrary. During the five years 1923-1928, all except one of 22 arts and science divisions which were able to furnish figures showed increases in the amounts spent for salaries and wages. The increases ranged from 1 per cent to 85 per cent with an average increase of 35 per cent and a median of 31 per cent. The increase in this item is of special interest because salaries for the arts and science staffs are in all ranks somewhat lower than those for corresponding ranks in the land-grant institutions as a whole.

In 1920 the United States Office of Education made a study of salaries (United States Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 20) in 80 public colleges and universities. The annual reports required from land-grant institutions by the Office of Education carried a salary schedule in 1928-29. The survey of land-grant colleges and universities collected information in regard to salaries in arts and science divisions as of 1927-28. For purposes of comparison the median salaries extracted from these three sources of information are presented in Table 3.

TABLE 3.-Median salaries of staff members of land-grant colleges and universities

The 1929 study of 51 land-grant institutions shows substantially larger salaries for all ranks than were paid in 80 public institutions in 1920. The arts and science salaries for 1928 are also higher than those in the public institutions in 1928. But when the salaries paid arts and science staff members in 1928 are compared with those for all types of staff members in land-grant institutions in 1929 the difference is greater than can be accounted for by the 1-year interval. Arts and science salaries are consistently lower in all ranks than the salaries paid to corresponding ranks of the land-grant institutions as a whole when employment is on the 9 months' basis. Further, only deans of arts and sciences show slightly higher salaries than the median for all deans who are on the 12 months' basis. All other ranks in arts and sciences are paid less than corresponding ranks on the 12 months' basis.

The distribution of arts and science salary ranges are shown by ranks for 44 land-grant institutions in Table 4.

In spite of rather encouraging increases in total expenditures for salaries and wages in the 22 institutions reporting, it would seem that this increase resulted in part from increase in the number of the staff and was not expended upon salary increases in large enough proportions to make arts and science salaries equal the median for the entire staff of the land-grant institutions.