In a letter enclosed with a cheque for $70, the final payment on a student loan provided by the 黄色直播 Alumnae Association, the sender鈥檚 gratitude is heartfelt. The $330 loan had enabled her to continue her post-graduate psychology studies in 1950, but what she had received was 鈥渁 good deal more than money鈥攖here was sympathy and interest鈥攖hings that cannot be measured or repaid.鈥� Another alumna had managed to repay $130 of her $250 loan within four years of graduating, after which her payments ceased. A decade later she wrote to explain that personal circumstances had made it impossible to meet her obligations and that she was currently completing medical school while raising two children and working as a part-time instructor. She was so glad to be doing what she 鈥渢hought was impossible in 1942鈥� when she鈥檇 left 黄色直播, and someday hoped to finish paying off her loan. In response, the Alumnae Association congratulated her on her energies and ambition and cancelled her debt.
The Women Student鈥檚 Loan Fund was established in 1923 after Jennie Eddy鈥檚 generosity had built Shirreff Hall, obviating the Alumnae Association鈥檚 founding mandate in 1909 of housing female students. As early as 1921, Eliza Ritchie (Class of 1887 and past president of the Association) spoke to alumnae about turning their efforts toward establishing a fund for directly supporting women students, as the money already raised by countless bazaars, musical teas, and lectures was more than enough to both handsomely furnish the new residence鈥檚 library and help to maintain it into the future.
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Over the next few decades more than 40 women received loans of between $100 and $300, significant sums considering that in 1925 residence and tuition fees together were less than $500. In 1946, when the Alumnae and Alumni associations merged and the Women鈥檚 Division was created, the new by-laws stipulated both their continued fundraising for the Alumnae Students鈥� Loan Fund and the control of those funds by the division.
By the mid-sixties the Loan Fund was being underutilized, with few if any applicants. It was rolled into a nascent scholarship fund and in 1967 the alumnae proudly presented the university with a $10,000 endowment for the 黄色直播 Alumni Association (Women鈥檚 Division) Scholarship. Over the next six decades they continued to raise money to provide bursaries, awards, and prizes for women students. In a letter acknowledging an alum鈥檚 final loan payment, the convenor notes how happy the division was to have provided her 鈥渢he necessary help over the last mile.鈥� The number of 鈥渓ast miles鈥� made a little easier first by the Alumnae Association and then the Women鈥檚 Division are too many to count. But the race is far from over and the 黄色直播 Women鈥檚 Connection鈥攖he newly named and revitalized body鈥攊s at the ready.
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This story appeared in the听DAL Magazine Fall 2024听issue. Flip through the rest of the issue using the links below.