Her Oxford

13. A Changing Order

199 13 A Changing Order I n the 1920s and 1930s the women’s societies, despite a chronic shortage of money, not only expanded to accommodate the growing number of applicants but did so during significant administrative changes. Money Woes The interwar years were ones of financial hardship for the Oxford women ’s societies. They had always been poor, without endowments or wellheeled supporters, but student fees and no-frills budgets had enabled them to just keep afloat. During the postwar inflation that hit Britain, however, the cost of living rose sharply, and even the comparatively wealthy men’s colleges felt the pinch. The four residential women’s colleges, which had tried to keep prewar fees around £100 per year, were forced to raise them to £150 per year. (Among the men’s colleges, expenses varied widely, depending on the college, but as a general rule, a male undergraduate could expect to pay around £250 per year for his education.) Although the increase did not keep pace with inflation, the women’s colleges were reluctant to raise fees any further because middle-class and poorer students would then find an Oxford education prohibitively expensive. Although a woman’s right to higher education was now more accepted than in the past, many families still set a limit on what they were prepared to pay to educate their daughters. There were other problems. More and more women sought places at all the Oxford women’s colleges after the war, and the university’s appeal was only enhanced with the admission of women to degrees. To make room for increasing numbers of students, all the colleges embarked on expensive building projects in the ten years after 1919, thus incurring more debt. Salaries for tutors were another cause for concern. Tutors received no constant rate of pay but depended on fees for hours taught and lectures given, a sum that could vary from term to term. Tutors often took on as many pupils as possible just to earn a modest income, but their research and 200 Her Oxford sometimes their health suffered. Also, they had no pension plans except at Somerville, which instituted a pension scheme in 1917. St. Hilda’s, Somerville, and the Society of Home-Students got a welcome infusion of cash in 1919 from the Cassel Trust (St. Hugh’s and LMH were not eligible because of their religious affiliation). Sir Ernest Cassel, a wealthy British financier and philanthropist, created an educational trust in 1919 of about £500,000 to fund a variety of his interests, one of which was the higher education of women. The grants awarded to the Oxford colleges ran for five years; St. Hilda’s received £750 per year, Somerville£1,250, and the Home-Students £500. At the end of the five-year period, each society received a lump sum in lieu of further annual grants. Although the three women’s societies gratefully accepted the money, it by no means fully met their urgent need for funds. When it became clear in 1919 that another royal commission would be appointed to investigate the financial resources and government of both Oxford and Cambridge, all the Oxford women principals outlined their financial position in a joint report for the commission. They particularly stressed the need for increased stipends and pensions to the administrative and teaching staffs and for financial help to maintain buildings, promote research, develop libraries, and extend student accommodations. At the end of two-and-a-half years, the commission published its recommendations on March 24, 1922, including specific proposals for the women’s colleges . Noting that their financial position was particularly unsatisfactory, commissioners suggested that the government give Oxford and Cambridge each an annual grant of £4,000 for the next ten years to be distributed to the women’s colleges at the university’s discretion. Commissioners made the grant subject to several conditions: (1) that the colleges would make every effort in the next ten years to become self-supporting, (2) that out of each college’s share, one-half would be set aside for salaries and pensions , (3) that each college would establish a pension plan, and (4) that each college should settle its debts within a period fixed by the Women’s Property Committee at Oxford and a corresponding board to be created at Cambridge. The women’s colleges agreed to the conditions of the grant, but Winifred Moberly, principal of St. Hilda’s, expressed doubts that they could become self-sufficient...