In grateful recognition, President John Witherspoon designated this fund ``The Leslie Fund'' and, over the years -- as part of the University's endowment -- it has helped hundreds of young Princetonians prepare themselves for lives of usefulness and honor.

From the beginning, Princeton has welcomed students from differing economic backgrounds, and by now it has seven hundred endowed scholarship funds to help meet their needs. These funds have come from many sources: from graduates and their families; from members of the faculty, various classes, alumni associations, and friends of the University. Their total ``book value'' is nearly $30 million; their ``market value'' more than twice as much.

The number and the needs of students have also risen over the years. Today, about half of the undergraduate body qualifies for some kind of financial help. To provide this, there are some outside sources of funds -- from corporations and foundations, state and federal governments -- but the ``Tiger's share'' (75%) comes from the University. And when necessary, Princeton augments the income from scholarship endowment with her own unrestricted funds.

Scholarship assistance generally requires a complementary expenditure of time, energy, and future resources from the student recipients. Those who receive outright scholarship grants work a certain number of hours in campus jobs: in the Library, Dining Halls, University Store, Laboratories and other places -- earning well over a million dollars annually. They also assume interest-bearing loans to repay after graduation.

By good fortune, DEI SUB NUMINE VIGET, the University has so far been able to assist any student who can meet the requirements for admission.

Frederic E. Fox

From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).