Influence of 1870-1944 on Present Day Higher Education
Introduction
Most colleges present today were started before the year 1900. In other words, most of these colleges were founded in the nineteenth century. During this century, and the early twentieth century, the way in which knowledge was packaged and delivered to students changed. These changes made the scope and scale of higher learning places expand and mostly favoring those institutions in the public sector (Ehrenberg, 2006). As years went by, many subjects present in universities and colleges became divided and more specialized. This meant that those teaching also started categorizing themselves and becoming more specialized. Amongst others, a number of factors, which influence these changes, were the development of experimenting methods in the Science field, applying science in the growth of the industrial field and the awareness of problems socially related due to the growth in industries and the urban areas. As these changes took place, many departments in higher learning were affected. These departments include the faculty, student, finance, institutional, curriculum and governance departments. The students were impacted positively in financial terms due to the influence of this period.
How the historical foundations of 1870-1944 have influenced the shaping of today’s higher education on finance
In terms of the revenue coming into the higher learning institutions, this has increased through the years especially when the changes mentioned above took place. However, the revenue in the public institutions was more than that in the private institutions. For example, taking the years 1897, 1924 and 1934 the mean revenue in the private institutions was $945,000, $3,306,000 and $4,253,000 respectively. The mean revenue in the public institutions was $1,729,000, $13,300,000 and $14,112,000 respectively (Goldin & Katz, 1999). Although there was an economic depression between the years 1930 and the 1940, financing higher learning today is becoming harder and higher as the years go by. The revenue today is more as there are more students than there were in those years. However, due to the current hard economic times, funding the higher education is becoming more of a challenge. Most of the students learn on scholarships and the learning institutions mostly depend on government subsidies.
The years between 1890 and 1940 witnessed many universities that were totally dedicated to research (research universities). The research institutions need a lot of money annually. Examples of these universities are Johns Hopkins University, Chicago University, Clark University, amongst others. These research institutions use hundreds of millions of dollars every year, especially the big ones like johns Hopkins. However, they mostly depend on donations and grants in order to keep these researches going. For example, the John Hopkins University receives grants worth around $301 million annually. Unfortunately, some researches have been put on hold due to lack of enough funds (Ehrenberg, 2006). Institutions conduct research from the medical, social, agricultural, environmental fields, amongst others.
As mentioned earlier, there was a shift of preference from that of the private universities to that of public institutions between the years 1890 and 1940. During the years 1897 to 1940, there was an increase in the number of students in the public institutions from 0.22% to 0.5%. In the year before the Second World War to 1990, the percentage increase shot from 0.5 to 0.67. The teacher training institutions, which were formerly on their own, became part of the universities during this period. This increase has been consistent over the years due to the population growth and the advantages that come with learning in public universities. The government provides subsidies in form of scholarships to students to the students in the public universities. This is why people prefer being in the public institutions. The institutions in the public sector are also cheaper than the institution in the private sector.
During the Great Depression, most people opted to go into schools and colleges since they could not get a job. This is because institutions like the CCNY (City college of New York) were free since they were government sponsored. Unlike in that period, the stock market downturn and the credit crunch have made things be financially difficult recently. Unfortunately, more and students are being denied loans. This is because these funds have been reduced. It is also feared that the government subsidies will also reduce in the next number of years. As mentioned earlier, most students in the higher learning institutions depend on the government’s loans, scholarships and subsidies in order to learn for the fees is quite a lot to pay all for quite a larger number of people.
The Morrill Act of 1862 made a bid difference in the higher learning world. This made the states have at least one state-funded university (Goldin & Katz, 1999). This put more enforcement on the emergence of public higher learning institutions. Although this trend has continued and there are more state-funded universities due to he increase of population, getting these funds and loans for the students is becoming harder and harder. More people are unable to access college education due to the high costs of learning in these institutions. The economic hard times currently being experienced are making matters worse. For those in private institutions, they depend on their own funds and the scholarships offered by the institutions.
Due to the Act and other efforts that had been done in the future, state supported higher learning institutions really increased between the years 1890 and 1940. These made the students prefer public institutions to private ones. It also made the students spend more on higher learning than it had done in the previous years (Blackwell, Cobb & Weinberg, 2002). This preference of public institutions has not stopped even today. The high number of students in these institutions and the current economic situation are making it difficult for the government to keep up with the demand. However, the available insurance policies that cater for higher learning education have enabled more and more students at least get their heads under the roof, of a college or university waiting that they will get scholarships or funds to clear the rest of their course. Unfortunately, some end up dropping out or taking jobs in-between in order to clear their course.
The school’s curriculum is revised every five to ten years in the elementary and the high school levels. This has enabled more and more students competent enough to qualify to reach the college/university levels. After the economic depression, the surviving institutions came out stronger and more determined than they were before. The parents of that time encouraged their students to take education more seriously. Those students grew up knowing the importance of education and became parents who encouraged their students to take up education more seriously. The trend continued until it reached the current number of people in the higher learning both young and old. Most well paying jobs require one to have been well educated thus having good credentials. Most students taking their postgraduate degrees, masters, doctorates amongst others, pay their own fees unlike the ones who are taking their first degrees. The ones going for more degrees provide a source of revenue for the institutions (Cohen & Kisker, 2010).
Conclusion
As discussed above, the years between 1870 and 1940 played a major role in the current financial situation of the higher learning. The Acts written down during that time, the economic depression, the leadership and the social well being of the people played a major role in shaping the current colleges and universities. Although the economic situation today is not at its best and neither is it favoring the students in these institutions, more students have been able to access higher learning today more than they were before.
References
Blackwell, M., Cobb, S. & Weinberg, D., (2002). The Economic Impact of educational Institutionals: Issues and Methodology. Economic Development Quarterly, 16(1):88-95.
Cohen, A. M., & Kisker, C. B. (2010). The shaping of American higher education: Emergence and growth of the contemporary system. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ehrenberg, R. G. (2006). What’s happening to public higher education?. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
Goldin G. & Katz, L. F., (1999). The Shaping of Higher Education: The Formative Years in the United States, 1890 to 1940. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(1):37-62.
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