Northwestern University officials say that it is unlikely that many of 340 scholarships established 130 years ago that promise free tuition, which currently totals about $50,000 over four years, are still valid.
Nonetheless, a university archivist said he has been amused at the attention given the story about the scholarships, which first appeared recently in a campus newspaper.
”This story has spread like wildfire. It is kind of like winning the lottery,” said Patrick Quinn, the archivist. ”People seem to think they have something up in the attic–like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
A fledgling reporter in search of a story found out about the free-tuition scholarships while going through the university archives in Deering Library on Northwestern`s Evanston campus.
It seems that the university`s founders in an attempt to raise money to build a school on the lakefront in Evanston sold 340 ”perpetual
scholarships” between 1853 and 1867. At $100 each, which could be paid on the installment plan, the scholarships entitled the bearer and all his descendants to free tuition ”in perpetuity at Northwestern.”
Today, tuition totals nearly $50,000 for four years.
But finding one of those free scholarships and proving it is valid is another story. Northwestern University does not automatically honor the claims of students who say they are the bona-fide bearers of such scholarships.
Michael Watson, vice president for legal affairs at Northwestern, said he recalls only two such scholarships being honored in the 13 years he has been at the university. The last student to use one left school or was graduated three of four years ago, Watson said.
He said that currently there are two people attempting to get free tuition through the 130-year old scholarships. That`s about normal, he said.
”We receive two or three inquiries a year about these scholarships,”
said Quinn, whose job as archivist includes determining the validity of the claims. ”In most instances, the scholarships have expired or the chain of descendants has been broken.”
Quinn said that some of the scholarships had expiration dates. Valid ones will not be honored by Northwestern, he said, unless it can be proved that they were bequeathed through generations of a family.
