Background Information

According to Hope College’s first catalog, created during its founding in 1866, a fee of ten dollars was required from each student for “contingent expenses.” Other than that blanket fee, no official charges were established - including tuition. Students were not turned away from the school if they could not afford to pay. If deemed worthy and had “promise of usefulness,” beneficiary aid was offered to students to assist in covering costs [1]. The first time that a consistent, formal tuition was charged and included in the yearly course catalogs was in 1916. The amount charged was 24 dollars [2]. After that, tuition remained a consistent cost for students. Room and board was listed as a consistent cost but aid was available for those unable to pay. Plus, many students were local and able to commute.

My assumption upon starting this project was that any women who attended Hope College before 1950 were middle to upper-class women who could afford to pay tuition. On one hand, this reality is true. Tuition during the scope of our research (1925-1950) coincided with two major world events - the Great Depression and World War II. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to find that wealthy people were able to afford tuition and attend school during this time. However, our exploration found that a significant portion of the attendees struggled to find the financial means to attend Hope. The focus on tuition is potentially misleading because other extraneous costs like travel, room, board, books, laboratory fees, and various sundries are glossed over. While Hope’s tuition may have been more affordable in comparison to other schools, the full cost of attending college added up quickly. Therefore, in this analysis, I am comparing the full price for college in one academic year including tuition, room, board, and sundries that is listed in the course catalogs. Hopefully, this is more accurate in portraying the cost of attending college during this time.

Making Ends Meet

As a result of hidden, higher costs, many students relied on beneficiary aid, scholarships, loans, donations, and part time employment to afford higher education. One woman, Alida J. Kloosterman graduated from Hope in 1948 after majoring in mathematics. Kloosterman detailed her financial struggles in her biography for the Reformed Church of America’s Board of Foreign Missions. Kloosterman took a gap year after her mother’s death and worked to pay off debts and mortgages on the house. She saved enough for one year in college when room, board, tuition, and sundries were $410-450 per year. While at Hope, she worked summers, vacations, evenings, and Saturdays, to finance her remaining years. Kloosterman worked in the dorm collecting and dispensing linen, in laundry as a cleaning girl, in the library, and filing [3].


Kloosterman was far from being the only student struggling to make ends meet. Helen Zander, a 1928 graduate, was financed by her church in Schenectady [4]. She would have paid $340 per year from 1925-1927. In 1928, the total given cost increased and she would have paid $380. In a 1927 letter to Mrs. Durfee, the Dean of Women from 1909-1936, one female student begged for grace from the college. The student apologized for not having the ability to pay back what she owed and promised to get a job to pay back the money with two years of interest within the next year [5]. In 1927, the listed price for attending Hope was $340 for the whole year which is now equivalent to $5,260.13. These are just a few stories of many students who toiled in order to finance their education.

Data Analysis

In general, the overall listed price of attending Hope College for one year rose from 1925-1950 though there was a dip in 1938 and 1939. To give summary statistics, the minimum for this data set is $340 which was the given total price from 1925-1927. The maximum was $750 in 1950. The mean or average is $436.92. The median is $397.50. The mode is $380. As previously mentioned, the scope of this research project includes two major international events - the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s. Therefore, college pricing was influenced by the global context.

The Great Depression

During the Great Depression, pricing initially increased significantly and then decreased. In 1929, the total cost for one year at Hope College was $380. The 1928-1929 Bulletin, which is the equivalent to modern course catalogs, that listed this amount was published in 1928. During the 1929-1930 academic year, costs increased to $400. The 1930 Bulletin was published in February 1929, a few months before Black Tuesday in October. The 1931 school year was the first year where the Bulletin would be published during the Great Depression as it was published in February of 1930. Room, board, and tuition costs still increased during the Great Depression as total costs remained at $400 but deflation made the same amount of money have higher value. The highest cost was $410 in 1932. Pricing at Hope was not this high again until 1943.

After 1932, listed costs for the 1932-1933 school year decreased to $390. In 1934, it increased again to $400. Then, it decreased to $380 in 1935. In order to understand the cost of attending Hope, which may appear arbitrary at first glance, it is important to look at the economic health of the school. Overall enrollments began decreasing before the Great Depression, though this trend continued for the first few years of the 1930s. In 1929, months before the stock market crash, President Dimnent sold Hope’s stock portfolio. This helped to ease some of the economic distress that Hope was subjected to during the Great Depression. The money from the stocks was invested into the endowment. During the Depression, the school was able to pull money from the endowment in order to finance operating costs [6]. The health of the endowment contrasted with the struggle that the other sections of the school experienced. Enrollment rates decreased marginally in contrast to national trends where enrollment increased [7]. Professors and staff took a pay cut [8]. Dr. Nykerk, an important faculty member at the college, ended up losing his wealth and had to live in the female residence hall [9]. In 1930, to the distress of the Board of Trustees, President Dimnent stepped down from his role as President [10]. While relying on funds from donors and the RCA, Hope stayed afloat. 

World War II

During the war, total enrollment decreased from 529 in 1943 to 300 in 1944. Enrollment increased by 12 to 312 in 1945. During these years, total pricing for one year at Hope was in the range of $410-$450. In 1943, the Army Specialized Training Program began at Hope with 76 enlisted men. Participants were able to train and take courses. Hope provided engineering courses for this program as the Army College had an emphasis on mathematics and science. The civilian college had an emphasis on liberal arts education [11]. This program was funded by the government and helped subsidize operating costs.

When the ASTP ended in April of 1944, there was a loss of revenue for the college as the government had reimbursed the college for its resources. The first semester from 1944-1945 was difficult until the war ended in 1945 and veterans began to return to campus [12]. Veterans were encouraged to attend Hope because it was approved by the Veterans Administration to qualify for benefits from the G.I. Bill. Also, Hope gave academic credit to veterans for service school training. Enrollment mushroomed from 312 to 700 in 1946 and 1300 in 1947. Post-war financial difficulties challenged the college, but another concern was the ability to provide resources to the influx of students. 

Nationally, wartime inflation increased operating expenses and decreased resources in higher education. There were less students whose tuition money could cover costs. Therefore, many colleges were unequipped to handle the influx of students who enrolled during peacetime [13]. As a result, tuition and other expenses rose to match the rise in students. After World War II, the total cost of attending Hope College increased exponentially, as more students enrolled. For the 1944-1945 school year, a range for pricing was given at $410-450. That price was determined and published in 1944. In 1945-1946, pricing jumped to $500. Then, $600 in 1947 and $700 in 1948. In 1949, pricing increased but with a smaller margin as it cost $720 to attend Hope. In 1950, attending Hope was priced at $750. After World War II, “sundries” were not included in calculation of total costs. Therefore, the real cost of attending Hope was even higher.

References:
[1] 1865-1866. Catalog (Holland: Hope College, 1865), 35, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/2/.
[2] 1916. V54.01. May Bulletin. (Holland: Hope College, 1916), 184, https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/catalogs/49.
[3] “Alida J. Kloosterman”, Board of Foreign Missions Reformed Church in America, January 1950. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[4] “Helen Zander: Educational Work in Japan,” Woman’s Board of Foreign Missions, July 1942. Western Biographical File, Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan. 
[5] "Letter to Winifred Durfee," January 26, 1927. Durfee, Winifred Hackley (1861-1950). Papers, 1796-1963. (H88-0045), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.
[6] "October 1930", Board of Trustees (H88-0246), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.; "14 June, 1932", Board of Trustees (H88-0246), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.; "10 June, 1933", Board of Trustees (H88-0246), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.; Wynand Wichers, A Century of Hope (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), 204-207.
[7] Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 136, 10.1257/jep.20.4.133.
[8] Edward Dimnent, "Letter to Adelaide Dykhuizen," Adelaide Dykhuizen, Teaching Contracts, 1931-1068 (H88-0046), Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI.
[9] "Biographical, 1891-2014," Nykerk, John Bernard (1861-1936). Papers, 1885-1961, 2014 (H88-0111), Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI.
[10] "June 1930", Board of Trustees (H88-0246), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan.; "Edward Daniel Dimnent" by Paul Wackerbarth, 1964, Biographical, 1889-1965 Dimnent, Edward D. (1876-1959). Papers, 1892-1972. (H88-0040), Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI.
[11] "Correspondence between Hope College and Army", July 1943-September 1943,  Military Training Programs, records, 1917-1951, (H88-0266), Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI. 
[12] "Correspondence between Hope College and Army."
[13] Roger L. Geiger, The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015), 427, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7ztpf4.1?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.