Education: Scholarships from Ford

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After months of deliberation, Henry Ford II sat down in his Detroit office to compose a letter to the presidents of 881 colleges and universities across the U.S. He knew, he said, that "higher education has serious financial problems. We also know that . . . many of the young men and women cannot attend college simply because they cannot afford the costs." Henry Ford thereupon announced that he had a plan to help out on both counts—one of the fattest scholarship programs ever sponsored by private industry.

The Ford plan is to establish scholarships for the sons & daughters of Ford employees making less than $6753 month. The money will come from the Ford Motor Company Fund,* will pay tuition and up to 80% of the living costs of an average 70 students a year. It will also send a $500 bonus to any private institution a Ford scholar attends.

To qualify, a student must be in the top third of his high-school senior class, take an aptitude test, then pass muster before a board of nine college deans and presidents (among them: Barnard's Dean Millicent Mclntosh, M.I.T.'s President James R. Killian Jr., North Carolina's President Gordon Gray). As for which of the private colleges will get the benefit of the new fund, Henry Ford had no idea: that is a matter that the students will decide for themselves.