Carnegie Foundation, The

The, an institution for the advancement of teaching. This institution was founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1904. Its purpose is to provide pensions for retired professors. It was the original intention to confine pensions to the undenominational private colleges in the English-speaking countries of North America. The Foundation is managed by a board of trustees, and by salaried officials. The report for the year ending September 30, 1908, exhibited $10,962,000 on hand, an expense account for salaries and otherwise of $39,898, and 211 retiring allowances in force. The average annual allowance was $1,532. The total was $303,505. In the year named Mr. Carnegie increased his original endowment of $10,000,000 to $15,000,000, and some sixty tax-supported institutions in Canada, Newfoundland, and the United States were accepted.

The rules covering the grants are simple. The institution is examined and accepted. The professors are then entitled to pensions as a "matter of right," and are not required to beg for it. Any person sixty-five years of age who has served not less than fifteen years as a professor, and who draws an active salary of $1,200 or less, may retire on a yearly pension of $1,000; but the allowance is in no case to exceed ninety per cent of the salary. For each $100 of active salary in excess of $1,200, $50 is added to the pension. Thus a professor drawing $2,000 a year, and otherwise eligible, may retire on a pension of $1,400. The maximum pension allowance is $4,000. Any person who has served twenty-five years may retire regardless of age, and may exchange his salary for a pension which is reckoned at four-fifths of the amount allowed the older person. A widow is entitled to half her husband's allowance. In case of remarriage the pension ceases. The trustees take special action in case of physical breakdown. Meritorious individuals not in accepted institutions may be granted pensions.