‘Oxford is emphatically a place for the well-to-do, or those who by their brains have provided themselves with scholarships and exhibitions.’
‘The whole tradition of the place is against economy.... The world in general expects Oxford to entertain it, ... and I do not think we disappoint expectations in this respect.’
‘At the same time ... the cost of an Oxford education cannot be called high, judged by the standard of what is usually paid for education in England.’
There is no need for attempting here an explanation of the reasons for the facts which occasion these conclusions as set forth by Mr. Wells; but, keeping these statements in mind in connexion with the following sketch of necessary expenditures, one may readily see the reason for the statement in the Rhodes Trust’s Memorandum as quoted above.[66]
£300 is a comfortable sum, but it does not leave margins to be wasted in riotous living or hoarded as a nucleus for a fortune. It will carry the careful man through the year; but Rhodes evidently thought that in most cases the Scholars would have some supplementary means—an asset, under the circumstances, very desirable.
The Rhodes Scholar who expects to live the year round on £300 should realize at once that he is not to lay out for himself an extravagant programme. He will have, in fact, to figure closely in order to make this sum cover his necessary expenses for the whole year.
There exists a considerable difference in the averages of expense for different Colleges. This statement should not, however, be misinterpreted. It is possible, mathematically, to live at what would be styled ‘an expensive College’ at a minimum not much greater than that of a ‘cheap College’ (excepting special arrangements, e. g. Keble and St. Edmund Hall). But when it comes to practice, the atmosphere of the Colleges must be taken into consideration.
In order to enjoy the advantages of College life, to get and to give the best possible, the student should be ready and able to move on a plane with the average men about him. This does not mean that he shall go with the most expensive ‘set’ in his College, but he should be able to follow Rhodes’s famous injunction, ‘Do the comparative.’
Every Oxford Student has sooner or later to draw on his bank account to meet the following demands:—