200 Students Cut Summer Vacations To Apply for All Kinds of Odd Jobs

"Early birds" of the new Harvard year, over 200 students have cut short their summer vacations to spend time before college starts looking for outside jobs.

While these scholars have applied for all kinds of work, from snow shoveling to radio singing, most of them are hunting jobs to earn room or board or both, officials said.

Through college assistance, on the average over 1000 Harvard students a year ordinarily find term time and summer employment, and in good years earn between $200,000 and $300,000 to help finance their schooling.

Ordinarily about 1300 undergraduates, or more than a third of the college enrollment, registers for work with the Student Employment Office, which is under the direction of Russell T. Sharpe '28. In addition about 500 graduate students usually apply for work.

During the school year, the largest number of jobs is found in restaurants, with typing jobs, entertainment positions, chore work, jobs as psychological subjects, chauffeur posts, delivery work, and window washing, following in order. Odd jobs always turn up, such as teaching chess, modelling for artists, or directing traffic.

This summer about 400 students have held vacation positions, many of them as tutor-companions or camp councillors.

In addition to helping the students get outside employment. Harvard for the past five years has appropriated $40,000 a year for student work within the University, as an emergency depression program. This Temporary Student Employment Plan has supported jobs in various university departments such as the Library, Astronomical Observatory, the Houses and Museums, by which about 180 students a year have earned $250 each.