BRIEF HISTORY OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE
US – LOUISE HAINLINE, FOR MACAULAY
SEMINAR 4, 2/16
THE COLONIAL PERIOD
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The “Oxbridge” Model:
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Refers to the system of higher education put into place by
Oxford and Cambridge
Both were English universities that developed a formal
system of endowed colleges that combined living and
learning within quadrangles
The college was an isolated, “total” institution whose
responsibilities included guiding both the social and
academic dimensions of undergraduate life
It was this model that influenced college builders in
the New World starting in the 17th century
COLONIAL PERIOD (CONT’D)
The American colonists built colleges because they
and wished to transplant and perfect the English
idea of education as a civilizing experience that
ensured a progression of responsible leaders for
both church and state.
 The early colleges were designed to train the
clergy and wanted to educate children in the faith
(mostly Congregational, English Anglican or
Puritanism)
 The colleges were considered a ministry vital to
the community
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STUDENTS?
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The earliest students were
 Sons
of wealthy land owners planning for the
ministry
 Had to read/write Latin and Greek, translate the
classics
 Were white men generally younger than age 21
 Were not particularly focused on the credential of a
degree
 Many did not attend for more than a few years
CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY COLLEGE LIFE
A majority of institutions had ties to religious
denonimations
 Most college presidents were men of the cloth
(i.e., ministers)
 There was some tension between faculty and
students, with complaints by students about food,
lodging, and the curriculum
 The policy of in loco parentis put the faculty in the
role of parents in supervising student conduct and
moral development
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HARVARD WAS THE FIRST
1633 John Elliot proposed the establishment of
what was to become Harvard College
 In 1636, New College was founded in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
 In 1638, John Harvard, a minister, on his death
donated personal land, half his estate, and an
a library of 400 books. In response, the New
College was renamed Harvard College for him.
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AFTER HARVARD…
The College of William and Mary (1693).
William and Mary were two cousins who ruled
England from 1691. They granted a royal
charter for the 2nd colonial college
 Structured after Queen’s College in Oxford
 Had philosophy and divinity school, as well as a
school for native Americans
 Some students paid tuition, some were
supported with financial aid from tobacco taxes
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MORE AFTER HARVARD
Collegiate School in CT became Yale in 1701
 College of NJ at Princeton, charted by King George
III in 1746 – broke from the strongly religious mold,
as they admitted persons of nay denomination (as
long as they were prosperous white males)
 College of Philadelphia, first non-church school,
founded by B. Franklin for a “broad practical kind
of education”, changed to the U. Pennsylvania in
1755
 1754, Columbia founded
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MORE COLONIAL COLLEGES
1764 Rhode Island College, founded as Baptist,
changed its name to Brown after a primary donor
 1766 Queens College, later Rutgers
 1769 last colonial college, Dartmouth
 Much social and political turmoil, as England
tightened control
 1776, Colonies declared independence
 Colleges began to move away from the church
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POST COLONIAL PERIOD
More colleges were formed in the other
colonies, both north and south.
 After 1800, private colleges began to have
financial difficulties.
 Students saw higher education as a means to
worldly advancement than spiritual salvation
 Attendance tended to ratify social standing
rather than provide social mobility
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AFTER 1800
1819 University of Virginia, the first statecontrolled university, founded by T. Jefferson to
“diffuse and advance” secular knowledge
 In the south, the Civil War led to a depletion of
students and faculty and physical damage to
many colleges
 Provided opportunities to initiate new higher
education programs
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THE NATIONAL AND CIVIL WAR PERIOD
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Saw the introduction of extracurricular activities, a shift
in socioeconomic status of students, introduction of
women and African Americans into higher education
1862 – Under President Lincoln, the 1st Morrill Land
Grant Act provided:
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Federal support in every state for agriculture, home
economics & mechanical arts and other practical
occupation, helping to shift curriculum from classical to
more applied studies
public lands - 30,000 acres for each senator & rep.
Funds must be put in endowment at 5% interest
if not used in 5 yrs, returned to federal govt.
1890 - 2nd Morrill Land Grant Act provided regular
(ongoing) federal appropriations
CHANGES
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A wider range of socioeconomic status for students - “paupers to
scholars”
First-generation college students came from farming families, many
older than usual 17-21 years
Led to formation of charitable trusts and scholarships to help
colleges provide financial support to these students
Women became formal participants by the mid-nineteenth century,
with “female academies” created, including home economics,
science, mathematics, foreign languages and composition.
By 1860’s and 1870’s, many of these female academies or
seminaries became degree-granting colleges, but there were no coeducational colleges at this time.
Between 1985 and 1910, provisions were made for African
Americans to pursue higher education
Land grant act of 1890 provided funding for black colleges with
studies in agriculture and mechanical arts, with additional funding
from churches, Northern philanthropic groups, and states
THE RISE OF THE UNIVERSITY
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Between 1870 and 1910, there was a dramatic
“university movement” that involved:
Annexation of professional schools such as medicine,
law, business, theology, pharmacy and engineering
 Creation of extracurricular activities – athletics,
fraternities and sororities, campus newspapers and
other clubs
 Beginning of organized alumni associations
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First junior college, Joliet College, was founded as
the first 2-year college
GRADATE SCHOOLS
1861 – Yale University awarded the 1st Ph.D., but
a formal program was not established until 1872
 1872 Harvard began the Graduate School of Arts
& Sciences
 Johns Hopkins set out to be a premier graduate
school based on a German model, hiring foremost
scholars, only top-notch students accepted
 U. Chicago followed the Hopkins model
 The focus was primarily, as in the German model,
on research, not teaching
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AFTER WORLD WAR I: 1915-1945
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Beginning in the 1920’s, institutions enjoyed the
luxury of choice
There began to be more applicants than spots
 This led to the creation and refinement of the
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
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Enrollment rose during the Great Depression due
to lack of employment opportunities
 Community colleges expanded and began to focus
on job-training to address high rates of
unemployment, not simply liberal arts subjects
 Diversity was still an issue and discrimination
existed for minority groups and women
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THE “GOLDEN AGE” – 1945-1970
Saw an academic revolution in which colleges and
universities acquired unprecedented influence in
American society
 At the end of WWII, the GI Bill gave federal
scholarships for post-secondary education for
returning war veterans and enrollment boomed
 It set precedent for making portable government
student aid an entitlement and provided a tool to
make American Higher education more diverse
 The higher education system was not prepared to
absorb all these new students.
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THE TRUMAN COMMISSION
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In 1947, Truman authorized a report to expand access and affordability to higher
education, to make free higher education
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The report proposed sweeping changes in higher education:
 the abandonment of European concepts of education and the development of a
curriculum attuned to the needs of a democracy;
 the doubling of college attendance by 1960;
 the integration of vocational and liberal education;
 the extension of free public education through the first 2 years of college for all
youth who can profit from such education;
 the elimination of racial and religious discrimination;
 revision of the goals of graduate and professional school education to make them
effective in training well-rounded persons as well as research specialists and
technicians;
 and the expansion of Federal support for higher education through scholarships,
fellowships, and general aid.
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Also proposed were: establishment of a national network of community colleges; the
expansion of adult education programs; and the distribution of Federal aid to
education in such a manner that the poorer States can bring their educational
systems closer to the quality of the wealthier States.
1950’S AND 1960’S
By the 1950’s, the great growth of the 1940’s
subsided and the situation was stagnant
 Some top schools set quotas for Jews and other
“outsider” groups
 In the 1960’s, there was again a huge increase in
the number of colleges and students
 The rise of the “Multiversity” consisting of a
flagship campus with advanced degree programs
and tens of thousands of students
 Budgets relied on “soft money”, research funding
by the Federal government and private sources
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THE 1960’S – THE DOWNSIDE OF EXPANSION
Students began to complain about large lecture
classes, impersonal administration, crowded
student housing, and psychological distance
between faculty and students
 Growing student concern over political and social
events (the Vietnam war, the draft, the Civil Rights
movement)
 By 1970, media depicted the American campus as
a battleground in a generational war between
college students and established institutions of
society (Kent State, campus occupations, protests)
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1980’S AND 1990’S– ERA OF ADJUSTMENT &
ACCOUNTABILITY
Introduction of more financial aid opportunities by
the Federal Government
 Entitlements for student aid
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 Basic
Educational Opportunity grants (BEOG)
 Supplement Educational Opportunity Grants (later known as
Pell grants)
Enrollment declines for traditional male students
were answered by recruitment of older students,
women and minorities
 Led to continued rise in diversity including women,
African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans
and Asians
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RECENT DECADES
End of Post WWII expansion and growth
 Facing significant financial hardships
 Enrollment
 Downsizing, rightsizing, fiscal constraints,
faculty productivity, new buzzwords
 Research universities criticized for esoteric
research, lack of attention to teaching and the
undergraduate curriculum
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THE BEGINNING OF 21ST CENTURY
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Between 1990 and 2000, most colleges and
universities were prosperous and had high enrollments
Public universities began to be severely stressed by
consistent reductions in state funding
Tuitions soared at private colleges
Concerns about college costs began to escalate as costs
began to exceed inflation and student debt increased
markedly
Growth in student services and administration
accounted for a high proportion of the increased costs
Enrollment of women increased as enrollment by men
began to fall off
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Renewed emphasis on teaching and learning
process
 More diverse student body
 Wider range of reasons for enrolling in college
 Continued growth in the Community College sector
as more students with less high school
preparation attempt college
 Concern about remaking higher education as a
means of improving outcomes and controlling
costs
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