Alumnus (Lat., from alere), to nourish, originally the designation of a student who was supported and educated at the expense of the alumnat, an institution which, especially after the reformation, was endowed for the particular purpose of extending hospitality and education to youths who could not afford to pay for their living and tuition. Maurice of Saxony endowed three such institutions in Pforte, Meissen, and Grimma, which are to this day in active operation. The alumni have to adhere to the rules of the establishment and to perform various services for the school and the church, such as singing in the choir and the like, while the extraneers, the name given to students who pay for their board and tuition, are not bound to perform such services. In ordinary parlance, every graduate of a university or college is now an alumnus. - In jurisprudence, the term alumnat is the generic expression for the general responsibilities attached in the eyes of the law to the relationship of the foster-father (nutritor) toward the child whom he has undertaken to support and educate.