The Great Depression and Higher Education

St. Edward’s University has lived many lives since its 1877 founding. The ten-or-so years that spanned 1929 to 1938 were known as the Great Depression—a period sparked by the October 1929 stock market crash. A combination of overzealous speculation, and thus investment, and the inability of banks to liquidate said investments when it came time for people to withdraw their funds caused a long period of instability, which starkly juxtaposed the prior decade of fervor, the Roaring '20s. [1] That is not to say that the '20s were perfect, though. The breadth of the economy had already began to decline prior to Black Tuesday.

But that crash was in a land far, far away—New York. While there is no doubt that the effects of the crash reverberated throughout not only the country but the globe, it would be narrow-minded to assume that it affected any two places in the same way or at the same pace. The Depression took longer to reach Austin, and is not felt immediately by colleges and universities in general. As Rev. Dr. Donohoe, a visitor to St. Edward’s as the superior general of the Congregation of the Holy Cross stated, “Texas, I believe, is suffering less, however, than are many other parts of the United States.” [2] While the institution didn’t start overtly struggling until about 1932, students and their families did not have the same experience. Many strained to pay costs associated with attending—including tuition and board—before, throughout, and following the formal Depression period.