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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1943)
Friday, March S, 1943 J DAILY NEBRASKAN " 4 Entering Students Top In High School Classes One-fourth of the students -who enter the University of Nebraska come from farms and agricultural areas. Yet of these students from the farms, only one-third of them in the last three years expressed a desire to return to agriculture as a vocation. That is one of the facts pointed out in a study recently completed by' Dr. George W. Koscnlof, registrar and director of admissions at the university. Figures from Registration. Rosenlof gathered the informa tion from registering freshman classes in September, 1940, '41, and '42. Entering students for the three years totaled 3,155, of which 1,990 (60) were men and 1,165 (40) were women. Compilation of data revealed the following conclusions: 1. For men, engineering was . predominant as a vocational choice. In 1942 there was a slight tendency for a greater percentage to express an inter est in medicine and dentistry. For women, teaching was the first vocational choice, followed by dietetics, music and radio. Salesmanship, office work and agency activity followed. A comparatively large percentage of both men and women In both 1941 and 1942 expressed no final .choice of vocational interest. Athletics, Music Predominate Extra-Curricular Activities. Athletics is the predominant extra-curricular interest of men, while music is the choice of women. Church work apparently is second in interest of both men and women, with dramatics third. 2. The dominant reason of both men and women entering the uni versity is to increase their fund of knowledge. Second reason given by students for seeking a college education is that college training is necessary to one's chosen pro fession. Third reason is to in crease earning power. More than half of the students mention the cultural value of education and the opportunities which such an education provides for improve ment of one's citizenship. 3. Freshman students at the University of Nebraska very predominantly come from the highest and second-highest quar ters of their high school gradu ating classes. A comparatively small percentage, as would be expected, come from the fourth quarter of their classes. 4. The student body represents a cross section of the occupational interest of Nebraska citizens. One fourth of the students' parents are engaged in agriculture. Second in rank of parental occupations is merchandising; third is the group including agents, office workers and salesmen; and fourth, the trades. 5. While parents are charac teristically the source of sup port in education of these young people, a very large percentage of the men find their savings of considerable importance. About one-fourth of the women stu dents report savings as a source f financial support. 6. Fewer than 15 percent of the men and about 30 to 35 percent of the women during these three years have been earning less than 10 percent of their expenses earning it while in school. Esti mated costs of education vary all the way from $200 to $600, the percentage of persons, at either extreme being comparatively small. The large number who in dicated $200 or less are accounted for very probably by those who live in Lincoln and do not figure room and board in their costs. That students in this agricul tural state are seeking other vo cational fields is illustrated in the following table. (Choices are shown in terms of percentages). Vocational Choice. 1941 1942 Freshman Freshmen Vocational choice: M W M W Agents, office workers, ealcs 9 12 7 17 Agriculturists . . 8 12 7 Bankers, financial agents Government and pub lic service 2 2 2 Manufacturers, public utilities Merchants, dealers, proprietors Teachers 6 28 2 25 C. P. A i Architect, artist 1 3 1 1 Engineer 30 35 Lawyer a 1 4 1 Doctor, dentist, nurse, surgeon 9 H 10 15 Minister Pharmacist, chemist, geologist 5 1 6 2 Author, editor, Journal ist 4 3 2 5 Dietician, musicians, radio, mlsc 3 22 4 22 Trades 1 None stated 15 17 18 12 It will be noted that none of the students in either 1941 of 1942 was interested in the specific vocations of banking and finance, manufac tures and public utilities, merchan dising and the ministry. Yet from 10 to 17 percent of the students indicated the college of business administration as their field of study. It is evident that in more than three-fourths of the cases, stu dents are dependent to a very large degree upon the abilities of their parents to provide them with financial aid. Generally speaking, about one-fifth of both men and women had received scholarships of one kind or another. The Uni versity of Nebraska Board of Re gents awards scholarships annu ally to approximately 250 stu dents Below is a table showing the sources of financial support by percentages: 1940 1941 1942 Freshman Freshman Freshmnn M W M W M W Parents ...77 90 76 83 73 90 Savings ...46 20 59 30 71 28 Borrowings 8 4 6 4 5 4 Schol'shlps 22 22 26 30 22 20 Other 8 9 8 8 7 Not stated 5 1 4 3 2 2 Students in very large numbers, more especially the men, are sup plementing their savings in caring for the expenses of a college edu cation. Less than 15 percent of the men and approximately one third of the women report earn- JhML JhjL ymMu ... IFii-ijDn BBfflXK it TM(C BY MARY ELLEN SIM. It went on for years and years; the Nebraskan every March de voted page after page of print; and thru the years everyone just expected to pick up a paper some miming and see, splashed all over, lat least a half dozen pictures and a dozen full columns of type. - Then, a year and a half ago, some of our eastern neighbors got Jumpy, and one lazy Sunday aft ernoon while we were all sleeping off Sunday dinner, a few of them jumped right onto the little island in the fish pond out in our back yard. Most of us were quite sur prised. Everybody went along as usual, dating and, as spring breezes flitted up from the south, looking more and more languidly at the outside cover of Ecenbier's "His tory of Ecoonmics." There were a few more news stories on the military side, and a couple col ' umns on war. Some sports writ J ers called a few premature signals as to wiiat coaches might have to use for a forward line in the fall. No one cared much. Fall was a long time away. Even when it was rumored that university students might be asked to pass up that extended week-end of spring vacation and that rumor became a fact, few got very ex cited. War and its effects were just accepted. The AWS board ventured out of its corner then and said, "There will be no best dressed girl award this year. There will instead be a typical Nebraska coed presented at the Coed Follies." The board paused a moment, expecting the skies to fall. None fell. There was no great fanfare of publicity. There were no cries of hate, derision, or no body wrack ing sobs of disappointment from those who had pointed themselves for the BDG honor. There were only a few quiet sighs of lamenta tion, and a few wishes that my college years 4 had been peace years.'' . , ings of less than 10 percent. Fol lowing is the table of percentages of expenses earned while in school: 1940 m w Percent of Expenses 0 to 9. . .13 28 10 to 19. ..12 2 20 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49... 5 1941 1942 Freshman Freshman M W M W 14 31 13 37 2 9 6 6 9 8 10 9 7 4 12 7 7 3 7 4 ..17 3 6 50 to 59.. 60 to 69. . 70 to 79.. 80 to 89.. 90 to 99. ..13 Undecided. 7 Not stated. 20 19 2 3 2 7 31 19 12 3 2 4 3 1 7 2 13 11 13 22 20 10 3 1 4 1 1 5 6 3 3 12 19 That the university is composed of students who are the "cream of the high school crop," scholastical ly, is shown by the following table, which shows the distribution of the students in quarters of their grad uating high school classes: 1940 1942 Freshman Freshman Quarter M W M W First 48 63 41 56 Second 27 23 22 20 Third 14 11 12 Fourth 11 4 7 Not stated 1 18 11 ?S!LP A (C( WHO'D EVER GUESS THEY'RE J9S 1w resh as a flower garden are the first - of - the - season printed rayon dresses. Also the better - than - ever naw rayon twill suit dresses brightened with color. 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