Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Christopher J. McBride
Introduction
Higher Education Institutions has changed over a period of time. I will be discussing
“American Higher Education in the 21st century”. Then we will look at the happenings in funding
education from a contemporary view. Lastly, I will discuss strategies in place to improve the
Higher education is a great way to enhance your life. Furthering your education can
enable you to can change your socio-economic class. You can broaden your job opportunities
among a host of other possibilities. However, higher education is one of the most common debts
as it is expensive. Students often struggle with finding the means to pay for college. Thus,
Funding education has been on the public agenda for over a century. The history of
funding education is extensive and still remains a concern today. Dated back to the 1860s, the
Morrill Land Act of 1862 was established. The act’s intent was to motivate western expansion
by introducing a variety of disciplines. Instead of accepting the traditional liberal arts
curriculum, the federal government believed altering the curriculum would be beneficial to
colligate institutions. The changes brought forth by the Morrill Act, shifted focus toward
disciplines of agriculture, engineering, miming, and mechanics. Shortly after, thirtyseven
institutions were elected as land grant colleges. This federal development, was the beginning of
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some of the nation’s wellknown universities, such as the University of California, Texas A&M
University, and Pennsylvania State University (Bastedo, M. N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J.)
(2016) McBride, C. J. (2017). Funding Higher Education.
After World War II, there was a major disruption in American higher education which
was encouraged by the federal government. The World War II enrollment boom stemmed from
the G.I. Bill originally known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. The G.I. Bill of
Rights’ intent was to assist veterans. It provided veterans with a variety of benefits. A major
advantage of this bill was the assistance with college enrollment. During 1945, at the end of
World War II there was an increase in enrollment rates within higher education. About 1.6
million students were enrolled in colleges and universities. Half of those students were veterans,
two years later college enrollment swiftly increased. There were now 2.3 million students
enrolled in higher education and one million of those students were veterans. With the help of
the G.I. Bill thousands of American student veterans, who were not thinking about college, now
had a means through this federal policy. What made the G.I. Bill unique was that it offered
benefits to all veterans, regardless of race, gender, income level, or ethnic background. The
benefits of the G.I. Bill created many opportunities for student veterans of color to access federal
funds and resources to attend colleges and universities. This played a major part in student’s
upward mobility towards middle class status. (Bastedo, M. N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J.)
(2016) McBride, C. J. (2017). Funding Higher Education.
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In 1965, the federal role in Higher education again introduced the Greater Society
program. This program made a great effort to achieve equal opportunity for all Americans, but
primarily focused on confirming that everyone had an equal opportunity to attend college. The
initial result was to bring Higher Education near the financial range of lower income students.
Students could now enroll more than in previous years when financial status prevented
enrollment. This led the federal government to introduce more financial assistantships to college
students that lacked resources or funds.
According to Bastedo, Higher education has ten generations. Each generation consists of
monumental changes and shifts throughout the history of higher education. The first generation
ranged from years 16361740, it was referred to as the “Reformation Beginnings”. This era was
based solely around the first three colleges in the British colonies of America. Havard College,
the College of William and Mary, and Yale College were all described as the schools of
reformation. McBride, C. J. (2017). Funding Higher Education. “The foundations of these
institutions were created through executive board members and ministers of spiritual church’s.
The curriculum of the colleges in this era was adapted from the Arts course of medieval
universities”. (Bastedo, M. N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J. (2016). McBride, C. J. (2017).
Funding Higher Education. “Its aim was to provide students with a liberal education, which
meant facility with classical languages, grounding in the three basic philosophies of Aristotle
ethics, metaphysics, and natural philosophy or science and a grounding in logic”. (Bastedo, M.
N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J. (2016). McBride, C. J. (2017). Funding Higher Education.
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In order to be accepted into these institutions, students had to display a comprehension of Latin,
the language of instruction, and some Greek history.
The second generation is referred to as the Colonial Colleges, which ranged between the
years 17451775. In the year of 1746, the College of New Jersey was founded which is now
(Princeton University). While this college was situated in the colony, the compromise between
Presbyterians and the colony of New Jersey was groundbreaking, because it was denominational
in nature, yet tolerant of other protestants. The following colleges to be founded in this era was
Kings College, which is now Columbia University in 1754. The College of Philadelphia now
University of Pennsylvania in 1755, The College of Rhode Island, now Brown University in
1765. Dartmouth College in 1769, and Queens College which is now Rutgers University in 1771.
These four institutions were based around religious tolerations similar to the College of New
Jersey. “The curriculum was considered to be incoherent amalgam of works predicated on both
the old, theocentric universe and the new, enlightened views reflecting the writings of John
Locke and Sir Issac Newton.” (Bastedo, M. N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J. (2016). “The
Enlightened Spirit also included a more thorough teaching and appreciation of classical authors”.
(Bastedo, M. N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J. (2016).
Latin and Greek still remain prominent within the curricular, Latin later on transitioned to
be a language of instruction. The third Generation of American Higher Education, is titled
Republican Education and ranges from years 17761800. Republican education focused on
instilling core values. The republican teachers thought this would be beneficial for their students.
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The values included, selflessness, patriotism, and virtue in the citizens and leaders of the new
republic. Enlightenment learning was still offered at the institutions, but limited based upon the
college that was attended.
The remaining Generations of American Higher Education are, The Passing of Republic
Education 18001820s, The Classical Denominational Colleges 1820s1850s, New Departures
1850s1890, Growth and Standardization 1890 to WWI, Mass Higher Education and
Differentiation between the Wars, The Academic Revolution 19451975, and Privatization and
the Current Era 19752010. The journey of Higher Education through these Generations provides
us with a greater indepth understanding of how institutions of higher education have evolved.
There were many changes within the Higher Education system, these changes consisted of the
enrollment increase, curriculum transition, and the relationship between Higher Education and
the federal government. “Federal Investment in Higher Education increased significantly, with
the new funds being used to support access through student financial aid”. (Bastedo, M. N.,
Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J. (2016). McBride, C. J. (2017). Funding Higher Education.
The financial aid has had interesting trends and monumental moments since 1600’s.
According to inception, in 1643 Lady Anne Radcliffe Mowlson Harvard University was the first
school to offer free money to students who had the brains but lacked the financial means. This
was the beginning of student financial aid assistance. In the 1800’s The US Department of
Education was created. In the 1950’s President Lyndon B. Johnson went on to sign the Higher
Education Act into law. This offered more federal student loan programs and marked the
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beginning of the Pell Grant. In the 1970’s Sallie Mae established the Government Sponsored
Enterprise which gave more funding to those in need. The Middle Student income act allowed
financial aid to be extended to those who are considered middle class. In the 1980’s the United
States Department of Education was elevated to a cabinet level to enforce regulations. The
National Student Program Loan was established and focused on allowing families to borrow to
fund education. The Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act to improve programs that
were already in place. With technology surging, the 1990’s was the introduction of
FastWeb.com which allowed students to find loans and grants in a more convenient way than
ever before. An increase in student loans, resulted in an increase in student debt. Therefore,
Default Rate Changes extended the time span to 270 days that delinquent borrowers have to
declare default status. In the millennium, Student Loan interest rates hit a historical low of
2.88%. The FELP Act was repealed leaving the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act to
enforce schools to carry more responsibility regarding decreasing student loan defaults.
Financial Aid History. (n.d.).
Contemporary View: Funding Education
With such an extensive history, funding education is continuously being altered in efforts
to improve. Though funding education has consistent reevaluations, it is still a major dilemma in
the United States. The options of funding education have increased over time. Historically there
were very few, now there are more. The cost of education has increased. The financial need and
student debt has increased overtime. Though the exact percentages may differ when comparing
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historical rates and conventional rates, but demographics’ percentages in most categories are the
same. For instance, whites lead in completing at institution the student begin at. Blacks lead in
unenrolled percentages. Blacks and Mexicans’ percentages are close in numbers. However,
education remains a common method used to progress oneself, one’s family, and one’s future
generations.
Strategic View: Funding Education
As mentioned throughout the historical moments of higher education and financial
assistance, there are policies in place now and previously that solely focus on the funding of
education. The constant change and reevaluation shows that the federal government have
attempted and continues to attempt various strategies to resolve or improve the issue of funding
education. Where do Universities stand with such a lingering issue? Some universities have
attempted a variety of strategies to decrease student debt and increase financial assistance.
Overtime, Universities have continued to try to provide more grants than loans. As a result,
some schools do not include loans in their financial aid package in order to encourage using
grants over loans.
Also, schools have improved in identifying when students are at risk of dropping out of
school. Now, schools put forth more effort to retain students in order to decrease chances of
accumulating debt without an opportunity to fulfil a job with higher pay more likely attained
through having a higher education degree.
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Recently some universities have tried implementing strategies that inform students of
their balances on a consistent basis. Alerting the student after every semester may help be
reminded of how much debt they have accumulated and possibility discouraging them borrowing
more than needed.
Another strategy in efforts to decrease student debt is the fact that universities risk losing
federal funding when student loan debt and defaults are extremely too high.
According to periodical Chicago Tribune, ‘The Education Department said Wednesday
the share of people not making payments on their federal student loans within three years of
leaving college has risen, reversing five years of reported declines in new defaults. The national
student loan default rate is one of the most closely watched metrics in higher education because
it is used to determine whether colleges are eligible to receive federal student aid. The
department can impose sanctions on schools with default rates above 30 percent for three
consecutive years, or 40 percent for a single year.”
The Tribune continues, “This year, seven forprofit schools, two public colleges and one
private university hit those thresholds. The colleges, most of which are cosmetology or barber
schools, must all appeal to the department if they want students to be able to take out federal
loans and receive federal grants…the share of people defaulting for the second time has climbed
this year, a sign to some consumer groups that the contractors the government hires to service
student loans are falling short on keeping borrowers current on their loans.”
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As we all know, many people are just unresponsive to the student loan calls, emails,
letters, and continue to fall behind on payments. As a result, Tribune highlights a historic
moment in higher education, “Borrower complaints and the stubbornly high default rates pushed
the Obama administration to issue a set of contract requirements to improve the quality of
servicing. One directive called on the Office of Federal Student Aid to hold companies
accountable for borrowers receiving accurate, consistent and timely information about their debt.
Another 56page memo called for the creation of financial incentives for targeted outreach to
people at great risk of defaulting on their loans, among other things. Servicers complained that
the demands would be expensive and unnecessarily time consuming.” This launched another
sector of holding universities accountable and encouraging them to be better at informing and
reminding students of borrowing.
There are now strategies to inform parents and students. There are books, workshops,
orientations, and userfriendly websites that enhance one’s knowledge of financial aid methods.
This also helps students and families be more informed borrowers.. When a borrower is more
informed, then they make wiser decisions as borrowers. This results in Universities suffering
fewer financial loses and maintain financial partnerships like governmental funding. This also
results in students graduating with less debt. (University Strategies to Decrease Student Loan
Debt.) (2017, June 12).
To conclude, paying for education has been an interest and issue as early as 1600’s. Even
then the ideas were providing grants to enable students to afford education. As eras passed,
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tuition and methods of paying have increased. As tuition increased so has loans and student debt.
Since a vast majority cannot afford the tuition hikes, funding education remains on the public
agenda. Though all parties continuously adjust and create strategies, all parties must take a stand
in improving the affordability of education. The government must improve polices. The
universities must improve its policies. Students and families must improve their funding plans.
Lenders must improve their strategies as well. If there is collaboration among these parties, this
issue may ultimately improve.
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References
Bastedo, M. N., Altbach, P. G., & Gumport, P. J. (2016). American higher education in
the twenty-first century: social, political, and economic challenges. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press.
How Americans Pay for College. (n.d.). Retrieved November 03, 2017, from
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/20/pay
University Strategies to Decrease Student Loan Debt. (2017, June 12). Retrieved
decrease-student-loan-debt/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-federal-student-loan-default-20170928-
story.html
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