History of the UF Division of Student Affairs | Page 17

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When New Dormitory (Sledd Hall) opened in 1929, Dean of Students Tolbert
established a residence hall staff system, a precursor of the present system
using Resident Assistants. Each section had a designated upperclassman
called a “monitor” who provided leadership. The president of the student
body was “head monitor.” Monitors were not paid. Monitors were appointed
fr om students twenty-one years of age or older. By 1939, building dedication
materials for Sledd, Fletcher, and Murphree Halls described the five residence
facilities (Buckman, Thomas, Sledd, Fletcher, and Murphree) as “housing 1,100
residents, about one-third the all-male student body.” The residence facilities
were administered by a Director of Residence, his staff, a student monitor for
each of the sections, and an advisory committee on residence composed of
three members of the faculty.
By the late 1930s, President Tigert described the Dean of Students Office as
growing from one small office in Peabody Hall with one full-time staff member
and one part-time staff member to four large rooms in Anderson Hall with two
full-time staff and several student assistants. Duties included working with
individual students in need of guidance and self-help; working with faculty in
selling the student personnel viewpoint; advising student government; working
with students living in dormitories, rooming housing, and fraternities; advising
honorary societies; providing for freshmen wellness; enforcing student bylaws; providing for student social activities; arranging for student placement
after graduation; dealing with student automobiles; and arranging for student
scholarships and loans.
The UF Student YMCA student employment programs and private scholarships
as well as a loan program that Tolbert initiated in the 1930s were precursors to
the Student Financial Aid department which was part of the Division of Student
Affairs until 2011. When the Depression hit, Tolbert lobbied the administration
to support a loan program to enable students leaving UF for financial reasons
to stay. He proposed six-month term loans in the range of $35 – 50. The state
authorized the sale of $2 UF “scholarship license tags” with monies beyond the
cost of the tags going toward the loan fund. By 1934, $300 had been raised,
enough to initiate the loan program. Under the leadership of Hubert Carl
Schucht, UF Student Body President 1936-37, student organizations continued
to raise money towards the fund. By 1958, the loan fund had grown to $30,000.
After Tolbert’s death, the loan fund was named the Tolbert Memorial Loan Fund.

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