List of land-grant universities

The 31 tribal colleges of 1994 are represented as a system by the single membership of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).

Originally, in 1863, the Sheffield Scientific School, part of Yale University, was designated as the state's land-grant college.

[5] Despite the fact that Yale's agricultural efforts and education were lauded by state officials and others (with 50 to 60 students graduating annually from its tuition-free agricultural program within the "Sheff"), the Connecticut State Grange felt farmers were not receiving the full benefits of the Morrill Act due to Yale's high admissions standards; thus, in 1893, they persuaded the Connecticut General Assembly to establish Storrs Agricultural College (now called the University of Connecticut) and make it the state's sole land-grant institution (thereby removing Yale University's designation).

The State of Mississippi granted Alcorn three-fifths of the proceeds earned from the sale of thirty thousand acres of land scrip for agricultural colleges.

[5] Soon though, in the state's opinion, Brown University provided inadequate agricultural education, in part due to the fact that it could not afford to hire a specific professor or faculty of agricultural sciences, and in part due to the fact that Rhode Island's method for allocating land-grant scholarships favored urbanites and effectively produced few to no farmers.

The curator of the University's museum of natural history had been reluctantly recruited to give series of lectures on agricultural topics, which included visits to local farms.

When the Hatch Act of 1887 supporting agricultural experiment stations was passed, the Grange had made sure it was stated therein that funds did not need to be applied to current colleges and could be used for agricultural experiment stations not connected with them, so the Rhode Island General Assembly, having grown disenchanted with Brown's lackluster performance, established an agricultural school at Kingston and applied the Hatch Act's funds to it.

Shortly thereafter, Congress passed the second Morrill Act to increase funding to land-grant universities, and, following a controversy as to which school should benefit being decided in Brown's favor by the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Brown promptly withdrew its offer.

Brown University protested by suing the state and the case was heard by the US District Court for Rhode Island.

When the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Brown conceded defeat such that, in 1894, the state, as related by Encyclopedia Brunoniana, "approved an agreement in which Brown would repay the $50,000 received from the sale of the land in Kansas and assume the expense of educating the present holders of the state scholarships, and in return [Brown] would receive $40,000 in compensation for the education of earlier state scholars and would be relieved of the responsibility for agricultural education assumed in connection with the Morrill Act of 1863.