It pays to advertise and long ago in a paper world, departments would send out fliers to be posted on other departmental bulletin boards to capture the procrastinating eyes of undergraduates in the hope of stocking a qualified applicant pool for their incoming classes. Below is one such announcement for a newborn program in economic development jointly offered by the MIT Department of Economics and the Center for International Studies.
The last line of the announcement is somewhat ambiguous: “The Fellowship will carry a stipend of $2,000 exclusive of M.I.T. tuition.” Academic tuition that year ran $900 for two terms. On-campus housing for undergraduates ran to $380/year at the high end and two academic terms of board was about $500. Thus it looks like the fellowship would have broken down roughly 50:50 between tuition/fees and room/board/books.
________________
ANNOUNCING A NEW PROGRAM OF
GRADUATE TRAINING
IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
offered by
The Department of Economics and Social Science and
The Center for International Studies, M.I.T.
Beginning with the Fall Term of 1955, the Department of Economics at M.I.T. will offer a new program of graduate study leading to the Ph.D. in Economics that will provide students with special opportunities for studying the process of economic growth.
Members of the staff of the Center for International Studies will participate in courses and seminars in a way that will make available to students the current experience of the Center’s long-range research program in the field of economic development. Opportunities will be available for writing dissertations on problems being studied in a number of foreign countries.
The Center for International Studies was established by M.I.T. in 1951 to undertake research on political and economic problems that are of importance both for public policy and for the advancement of academic knowledge. Although the Center’s research is not limited to economic development, its extensive work in this field makes it appropriate to expand the economics curriculum at this time in recognition of the widespread interest in the problem of economic development.
Senior staff members of the Center who will participate in this new program of graduate instruction include Max F. Millikan, Director of the Center; Everett E. Hagen; Benjamin H. Higgins; Wilfred Malenbaum; Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan; and Walt W. Rostow. Professors Rodan, Malenbaum, and Higgins are directing research projects on economic development in Italy, India, and Indonesia, respectively.
In order to augment the Fellowship funds available to students in the Department of Economics and Social Science, the Center for International Studies will offer one Fellowship in Economic Development for the 1955-1956 academic year. The Fellowship will carry a stipend of $2,000 exclusive of M.I.T. tuition.
Source: M.I.T. Archives. School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Office of the Dean, Records, 1934-1964. Box 3, Folder “Economics Department, General. March 1951-1956”.