ROTC cadets during training in the 1940s. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
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ROTC cadets take target practice indoors during the 1941-42 school year. Both the Army and Air Force ROTC programs started teams during World War II. NC State fielded its first varsity team in 1958. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
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In the Summer 2009 issue of NC State magazine, we asked readers to tell us their memories of living on a student budget. We received nearly 175 responses and printed many in the Autumn 2009 issue. Below is a submission from (Ret.) Col. Ralph Brake ’40.
Ralph Brake '40, from the 1940 Agromeck.
Not only did he send us his story (below), he loaned us the ledger in which he recorded his income and expenses for his junior year (1938-39). We’ve reproduced images of pages from it at the end of the post.
How much did college cost? I estimated my freshman year expenses at $400. Expenses went up approximately $100 per year for my sophomore, junior, and senior years. For my junior year, September 1938 to May 1939, I kept a written ledger of my income and expenses.
I had to work to stay in college. I had no bank account. I was fortunate to have three older sisters who provided financial support during my four years at NC State. My father and mother died before I enrolled.
Beginning with the second term in January 1937, I worked daily in the dairy, milking cows by hand starting at 3:30 a.m. The building for milking cows in 1937 was located near the site of Reynolds Coliseum. I occasionally dropped off to sleep at 8 a.m. classes. At the end of my freshman year my roommate, Bruce Hildebrand ’40, informed me that I had a choice: I either get a new job or get a new roommate for my sophomore year. I got a new job in the botany department doing typing, filing, etc. A bonus was working for Prof. Murray Buell occasionally as a babysitter.
Brake's ledger, where he recorded his expenses for the 1938-39 school year.
[After] my first year at NC State, I was given summer employment working for the U.S. Forest Service doing a timber survey of Pisgah National Forest between Asheville and Blowing Rock. This job helped pay for part of my sophomore year expenses.
In September 1938, I was accepted for the Advanced ROTC program, which provided some additional income. I also was offered a job in the ROTC Military Department for my junior and senior years, which helped pay my expenses. During a six-week ROTC camp at Ft. McClellan I was given extra duty as the company clerk in addition to the required training, but no extra pay.
Another source of income was from selling pecans. My father had planted about 5 acres of Stuart Pecans on his farm. I sold and delivered about 100 pounds of these to faculty members and students each fall.
Editor’s note: Click on the images for a closer look. There are more after the jump.
E.E. Randolph, head of the chemical engineering department, listens to an ROTC cadet explain the operation of a machine gun in 1942. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
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An ROTC cadet rappels down a wall in 1970. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections)
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ROTC cadets participate in a flag ceremony in front of the Bell Tower. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
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Members of the Air Force ROTC participate in an egg toss in the 1960s. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
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Arnold Krochmal '42, seated, distributes ROTC uniforms to freshmen in the NC State military store in 1941. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
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A cadet officer stands at attention during the playing of the national anthem in 1949. This photograph was taken from inside the shrine room of the Bell Tower, which was built to honor the 33 NC State alumni killed in World War I. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
NC State’s Special Collections Research Center has nearly 20,000 images in its online database that you can view.
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Two NC State ROTC cadets on guard duty at Meredith College in the early 1960s as part of their initiation into the National Society of Pershing Rifles. Two Meredith students are trying to get the attention of the cadets, who were instructed not to talk to anyone. (Photograph courtesy of Special Collections, NCSU Libraries)
NC State’s Special Collections Research Center has more than 18,000 images in its online database that you can view.
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