The volunteer courses in colleges have been considered by many exceedingly efficacious for social and religious development. These volunteer courses have various sources. In some few colleges they are offered by the faculty. But in the great majority of cases they come through the channels of the voluntary religious organizations of the respective institutions. The Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association are the most active sources. The Young People's Societies such as the Christian Endeavor and The Epworth League foster this project in a few of our Negro colleges but very little data can be obtained therefrom, because they keep no accurate records from year to year.
There are thirty-six Young Men's Christian Associations in the colleges comprising this study. All of the co-educational institutions and those for women especially have the Young Women's Christian Association. Therefore, we have thirty-six Young Men's Christian Associations and thirty-six Young Women's Christian Associations in these private colleges and universities. Fourteen institutions report Bible study classes for men under the direction of students, more or less prepared. The membership in these classes is one hundred and seventy. Only five report Bible classes for women.
Mission study classes are also offered under the supervision of the Association in some of the colleges. The men in eleven colleges attend the mission study classes and number three hundred nine. The women have such provisions in two colleges with a membership of eighteen. The numbers in these classes fluctuate from year to year depending largely on two factors, the leaders of the respective association and the leaders of the classes. The personnel of the student body is also a factor. It is among the things natural that from time to time changes in the personnel of the student body bring changes of interest and there is no guarantee of fixity so far as numbers are concerned. It is the ideal of the Central Associations to have the classes sustained each year with an increased efficiency, but all of the institutions testify to the fluctuation caused by the human element in the problem. These courses are mostly mapped out, even to the assigning of specific texts by accepted authors, by the International Association.