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Historical Milestones

At the turn of the century, only 2 percent of the population—less than a quarter-million Americans—attended college. But the following events shaped higher education and contributed to America becoming the most educated country in the world.

1944 GI Bill: Skeptics said World War II veterans might use the GI Bill to avoid going back to work. In fact, veterans were mature students intent on taking advantage of a higher education to advance in life. By 1975, nearly 10 million, or a third of America’s young-adult population, attended college.

1958 National Defense Education Act: Intended to keep the United States ahead of the Soviet Union during the space race, the NDEA provided higher-education institutions with funding for low-interest loans to students and stimulated the advancement of education in science, mathematics and modern foreign languages.

1960 Higher Education Act: The HEA created scholarships, increased federal money given to universities, provided low-interest loans for students and established a National Teachers Corps.

1970 Carnegie Commission on Higher Education: The commission formed to develop a classification of colleges and universities to support its program of research and policy analysis. Essentially, it aided the assessment, evaluation and verifying of educational outcomes.



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