Brief History of Higher Education in the US – Louise Hainline, for Macaulay seminar 4 , 2/16

1. Brief History of Higher Education in the US – Louise Hainline, for Macaulay seminar 4, 2/16

2. The “Oxbridge” Model: • 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 The Colonial Period

3. 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 Colonial Period (cont’d)

4. 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 Students?

5. 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 Characteristics of Early College life

6. 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. Harvard was the First

7. 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 After Harvard…

8. 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 More After Harvard

9. 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 More colonial Colleges

10. 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 Post colonial period

11. 1819 University of Virginia, the first state-controlled 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 After 1800

12. 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: • 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 The national and Civil War period

13. 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 co-educational 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 Changes

14. 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 • First junior college, Joliet College, was founded as the first 2-year college The rise of the University

15. 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 Gradate Schools

16. 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) • 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 After World War i: 1915-1945

17. 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. The “Golden Age” – 1945-1970

18. In 1947, Truman authorized a report to expand access and affordability to higher education, to make free higher education • 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. • 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. The Truman ComMission

19. 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 1950’s and 1960’s

20. 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) The 1960’s – the Downside of Expansion

21. Introduction of more financial aid opportunitiesby the Federal Government • Entitlements for student aid • 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 1980’s and 1990’s– Era of Adjustment & accountability

22. 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 Recent Decades

23. 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 The beginning of 21st Century

24. 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 Where are we now?