Higher education in the United States

Since the decades following World War II, however, attending college or university has been thought of as "a rite of passage" to which the American Dream is deeply embedded.

[21] The nation's small colleges helped young men make the transition from rural farms to complex urban occupations.

The competition between private and public institutions shaped the development of the mixed public-private character of higher education in the United States.

[24] Vigorous debate in recent decades has focused on how to balance Catholic and academic roles, with conservatives arguing that bishops should exert more control to guarantee orthodoxy.

[25][26][27] Most Historically Black Colleges and Universities were established in the South after the American Civil War, often with the assistance of religious missionary organizations based in the northern United States.

[citation needed] To handle the explosive growth of K–12 education, every state set up a network of teachers' colleges, beginning with Massachusetts in the 1830s.

Students parents and businessmen wanted nearby, low-cost schools to provide training for the growing white-collar labor force, as well as for more advanced technical jobs in the blue-collar sphere.

In response, social scientists engaged in curricular reform, creating new general education courses and experimenting with progressive pedagogical methods.

[43] While a few for-profit colleges originated during Colonial times, these schools became major factors in the 1980s to about 2011, taking advantage of federal loan programs to pay student tuition.

For-profit colleges were criticized for predatory marketing and sales practices, and very poor records in terms of graduates getting jobs and repaying loans.

Robert Zemsky (2014), of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education notes that they at first seemed to be an extremely inexpensive method of bringing top teachers at low cost directly to students.

Trace Urdan, managing director at Tyton Partners, "estimates that the market for OPMs and related services will be worth nearly $8 billion by 2020.

[64] In December 2017, Moody's credit rating agency downgraded the US higher education outlook from stable to negative, "citing financial strains at both public and private four-year institutions.

According to Marcus Ford, the primary function went through four phases in American history: preserving Christian civilization, advancing the national interest, research, and growing the global economy.

The education and training that takes place in a university, college, or Institute of technology usually includes significant theoretical and abstract elements, as well as applied aspects (although limited offerings of internships or SURF programs attempt to provide practical applications).

For instance, in Fall 2023, Talent Together Michigan established its position as a statewide intermediary for teaching apprenticeships in partnership with 13 in-state universities and colleges.

Students were "attracted to the programs for their ease of enrollment and help obtaining financial aid," but "disappointed with the poor quality of education...."[122][123] University of Phoenix has been the largest for-profit college in the US.

Its function is to diversify learning opportunities, enhance employability, offer qualifications and stimulate innovation, for the benefit of learners and society.

The intensity of integration with the world of work (which includes enterprise, civil society and the public sector) is manifested by a strong focus on application of learning.

The College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at State University of New York in Albany, received billions of dollars in private sector investment.

[137][138][139] In most cases, the barrier of entry for students who require financial aid is set higher, a practice called need-aware admissions.

[140] Many companies offer tuition reimbursement plans for their employees, to make benefits package more attractive, to upgrade the skill levels and to increase retention.

As a result, public colleges and universities in many states charge out-of-state applicants a higher rate of tuition than resident students must pay.

Sociologist Stanley Aronowitz wrote: "Basking in the plenitude of qualified and credentialed instructors, many university administrators see the time when they can once again make tenure a rare privilege, awarded only to the most faithful and to those whose services are in great demand".

[167] Aggravating the problem, those few academics who do achieve tenure are often determined to stay put as long as possible, refusing lucrative incentives to retire early.

[180] College sports are popular on regional and national scales, at times competing with professional championships for prime broadcast, print coverage.

[206][207][208][209][204][205] In a 2021 Wall Street Journal article titled "Hobbled for Life," Melissa Korn and Andrea Fuller found that many master's degrees at elite schools did not pay off.

[10] Demographer Nathan Grawe projected that lower birth rates following the Great Recession of 2008 would result in a 15 percent enrollment loss, beginning in 2026.

[214] An analysis of federal data from The Chronicle of Higher Education shows "about half a million students have been displaced by college closures, which together shuttered more than 1,200 campuses.

[221] In 1997, ADL raised the issue that academic freedom and students activism have been misused in order to shield hate speech against Jews.

Swarthmore College , founded in 1864 in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania , one of the oldest coeducational colleges in the United States, is often considered a Little Ivy .
University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford, Connecticut , one of only four public law schools in New England
The Wren Building , built at the College of William & Mary in 1695, is the oldest academic building in the United States. The school held African slaves and their descendants for 170 years.
The Main Building at the University of Notre Dame , a prominent Catholic university in Notre Dame, Indiana
The open domed room anchoring Ohio University , which sits atop a hillside cut by Hocking River in Athens, Ohio
A poster publicizing the student strike of 1970 . In the 1960s and 70s, colleges and universities became centers of social movements .
Royce Hall at the University of California, Los Angeles . In 2021, UCLA received 168,000 applicants, the most of any U.S. college or university. [ 47 ]
2008–2012 bachelor's degree or higher (5-year estimate) by county (percent)
People 25 years and over who have completed an advanced degree by state (percent, 2012)
Wheelock College in Boston , Massachusetts, one of a number of colleges forced to close due to financial struggles
The Humanities Building at San Francisco State University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a polytechnic university in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Caltech , a member of the Association of American Universities , and the antecedents of NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , which Caltech continues to manage and operate
The University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida
The Main Building at the University of Texas at Austin
Mean financial wealth of US families by education of the head of household, 1989–2010
Mean income of US families by education of the head of household, 1989–2010
The Clark Center at Stanford University in Stanford, California
Stern School of Business , the business school of New York University in New York City
Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada
Commencement at Williams College , a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts
The Engineering Center at the University of Colorado Boulder
In 2017, the federal contribution amounted to 40 billion dollars. Only 100 schools out of more than 4,000 received 80% of that sum.
Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington in Seattle
4-year colleges and universities in 2015–2016
In 2019, Columbia University , an Ivy League university in New York City , charged $62,000 in tuition, making it the most expensive undergraduate school in the nation. [ 135 ]
The website of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid , which allows American students to determine their eligibility for student financial aid
University of Arizona , a public land-grant research university in Tucson , Arizona
In 2021, Harvard College at Harvard University reported a 3.43% acceptance rate, making it one of the nation's most selective universities and colleges. [ 152 ]
The George Peabody Library at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore
Michigan on offense against Ohio State during the 2011 game in Ann Arbor Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry
College enrollment
Female
Male