Tuition free education was instituted in 1871, intended as a means to compete with other young technical schools, especially Lafayette and Cornell, boost the size of the student body, and increase popular interest and recognition generally. This was not due to the generosity of Packer's initial gift, which had been by then near entirely spent on stone buildings and laboratory equipment, but rather his continual giving, and that of the estate upon his death. His will bequeathed $1,500,000 as an endowment for the university and $500,000 to the university library, and gave the university an interest of nearly one third in his estate when finally distributed.