European nations and Latin-American countries are substantially agreed as to the purpose and compass of secondary instruction. The practices of no two countries are alike in all details, but in general the secondary course is made up of languages, ancient and modern; mathematics up to or through calculus; the elements of the natural sciences; history; the literature of the vernacular; the outlines of philosophy and logic. In other words, secondary education is conceived as properly dealing with knowledge which has general use and validity, scientifically arranged and organized to show the causal relations between facts or phenomena. It includes training in orderly and independent methods of study. It aims to sharpen the esthetic and moral perceptions. Secondary education concerns itself little with the purely empirical; that is more particularly the province of elementary training. It prepares for the philosophical or minutely specialized pursuit of knowledge, which is the field of higher education. The period of general cultural training of the individual properly terminates with the completion of the secondary school course, which is fittingly recognized by the bestowal of the bachelor's degree. The six, eight, or nine years of secondary instruction in the countries mentioned are held to be sufficient for the accomplishment of this general purpose.

The function which is fulfilled in France, Germany, and Latin America by the secondary school is shared in the United States by two institutions-the secondary school and the college. It is generally admitted that the American student who has completed a secondary school course and two years of a general course in arts or sciences at an American college may be ranked with the holder of the baccalaureate of the French lycée or the Abiturientenzeugnis of the German Gymnasium. Those professional schools which demand two years of collegiate study for entrance maintain approximately the same standards of entrance, then, as the French and German universities, which are only open to holders of the two certificates just mentioned.

SECTION II.

CHAPTER I.

LIVING CONDITIONS.

Most of the larger universities are located in or near cities of considerable size. For instance, the University of California, at Berkeley, a city of 49,3311 inhabitants, is only 8 miles from San Francisco; the University of Minnesota is at Minneapolis, a city of 333,472 1 inhabitants; the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, a city of 25,5312 inhabitants. Within the limits of the metropolitan district of each of the great centers, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Boston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Washington, are several universities and colleges. The work of certain professional departments, in particular departments of medicine and dentistry, can hardly be successfully carried on without the facilities afforded by a large city. It is in recognition of this fact that the medical departments of the University of Illinois and Cornell have been established at Chicago and New York, respectively.

On the other hand, quite the majority of small colleges and independent professional institutions are located in villages and towns of from 1,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. In many cases the founders have deliberately chosen small communities in order that students might be removed from the temptations of the city and might be encouraged to live a simple, healthy life, in contact with nature. The large city and the small rural or quasi rural community each has its own peculiar advantages. The great centers of population mentioned above are also centers of art and forums for the exchange of ideas. Collections of paintings and of sculpture, concerts, theaters, museums, lectures, public meetings devoted to the discussion of political and economic problems may thus be legitimately included among the instrumentalities for education and self-improvement which the city university affords. The small town or village in return allows a more vigorous development and the closer welding together of the institutional community itself. "College life," so characteristic a feature of American higher institutions, flourishes especially in the country college.

1 Figures of 1913.

* Figures of 1910.

* See also Sec. II, Ch. III, p. 48, et seq.

EXPENSES.

The expenses of foreign students attending American institutions will vary widely, for several reasons. Practically all of the privately endowed institutions charge annual tuition fees. The fee is rarely less than $40 a year for collegiate instruction, and in some cases as high as $150 or $200 a year. For example, Carthage College and Bowdoin College charge tuition fees of $40 and $75, respectively. Columbia University charges $180, and Princeton University $160.1 Professional instruction, particularly in medicine and engineering, is still more expensive. The annual tuition at the University of Pennsylvania medical school is $200, for instance, as against $150 charged to collegiate students. Case School of Applied Science charges $125 a year; Massachusetts Institute of Technology charges $250 a year, and to its students in naval construction and naval architecture $500 a year.

Most State-aided institutions, on the other hand, charge only a small tuition fee to collegiate students not residents of the State, State residents being generally given instruction free of charge. But State institutions usually charge a considerable fee to students in some branches of professional study, because of the costly equipment needed for work in these departments. The practice of the University of Colorado, where the tuition fee to college students is $15, and the annual cost to the student in the medical school is $75, will serve as an illustration. In addition to tuition fees, most institutions, both private and State-aided, charge laboratory fees and various incidental fees. These rarely total more than $25 a year.

Living expenses, aside from tuition and other fees, vary with the location of the institution. Practically all the colleges and universities which are located in rural communities or in small towns maintain dormitories and dining halls, which generally assure the student of good boarding and rooming accommodations at a minimum rate. Dormitories and dining halls are also provided by certain city universities; for example, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania. Dormitories are commonly arranged so that two students share the same suite of two or three rooms, a study room and one or two bedrooms. Some dormitories, especially the older ones, contain chiefly single rooms, each serving as bedroom and study combined and designed for a single occupant. Where the institution has no dormitories, as is the case with the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois, an abundance of rooms are available in the houses of reputable private families. As a rule, the fundamental chargesroom, board, and laundry-are somewhat lower at the country institution than at those located in the cities. The possible wide varia

1 For information concerning tuition at other institutions, see Sec. VI.

tions in price (which do not altogether depend upon the size of the community) are indicated by the figure, $4.50, quoted as the weekly minimum by the University of Minnesota, and $12, the weekly maximum mentioned by Cornell University. The incidental expenses of city living, including amusements, should, of course, also be reckoned.1 These vary with the tastes and standards of the individual, but even the most ascetic student will spend a little more in an urban than in a rural community.

VACATIONS AND TRAVEL.

The foreign student contemplating a three or four year period of university study in the United States should make allowance in his budget for the long vacations. American colleges and universities are in session on an average about eight months in the year. The university year generally begins about the middle of September and closes about the middle of June. At most institutions it is divided into two semesters, the division line coming about the first of February. Approximately a month is devoted to short vacations of from 1 to 14 days duration, scattered through the academic year. The prices quoted by different institutions for the rent of dormitory rooms are generally for the academic year of nine months. Occupancy of the rooms during the short vacations is included. Students are usually not allowed to occupy dormitory rooms in the long summer vacation.

It is exceedingly desirable that the foreign student should spend part of the long vacation in travel if he can possibly afford this extra expense. The United States is so large a country; it contains so great a diversity of racial stocks, many of them concentrated in certain limited areas; its industries, climate, and conditions of living are so infinitely varied, that no single community can be regarded as typical. Not the least advantage to a foreign student pursuing his university work here will be the opportunity to observe the people and the customs of an alien nation. He should therefore strive to extend his observations as widely as possible. Railroad travel costs on the average 2 to 3 cents a mile; a seat in an individual chair car, called a "Pullman" car, costs approximately one-half a cent a mile A berth in a sleeping car costs about 1 cent a mile extra. Good hotel accommodations may be had-depending upon the place from $2.50 a day, including meals, up. For a longer sojourn

extra.

1 For estimates of the minimum total annual cost of attending the institutions described in this bulletin see the end of each description in Sec. VI. These estimates do not include incidentals.

2 California institutions present an exception to this rule, the academic year there extending from the middle of August to the middle of May.

3 It is now possible to enter almost any of the larger universities, and many colleges as well, at the beginning of either semester. Several institutions have two graduations, one in June and one in February. Classes, laboratory instruction, and courses of lectures are now usually arranged on the semester basis, as in German universities.