The Morrill Act of 1862 provided the funding mechanism for the modern land-grant college system. In the over 160 years since its passage, the tripartite land-grant mission of teaching, research, and service has become the most recognizable legacy of the legislation. Recent scholars of land-grant education caution against viewing the history of…

Land acknowledgments are an evolving practice to recognize local Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of their homelands. Using a content and discourse analysis, we conduct the first empirical study of U.S. land acknowledgment statements focusing on the 47 land-grab universities created under the 1862 Morrill Act. We find that LGUs tend to…

Historically Black colleges and universities are a unique institutional cohort in American higher education. These colleges have been celebrated for their achievements and critiqued for their composition at differing points during their collective history. This article addresses contemporary ebbs and flows of their relevance and reputation in the…

This report discusses the current state of higher education, with a brief high-level overview of the market and a more detailed discussion and analysis of the financial aid system. It also discusses the important changes President Obama has made to make higher education more accessible and affordable. The key findings are: (1) The economic returns…

President Lincoln signed the Morrill Land-grant Act in 1862, launching a nationwide project in public higher education that would build democracy, prosperity, and competitiveness to levels undreamed of 150 years ago. As student costs skyrocket, driven by steep drops in public funding, the viability of that project, like the nation itself, is under…

The list of 52 institutions included in these tables is not sharply defined. In general it includes, in addition to fully organized state and territorial universities, such other institutions of higher education as are supported, at least in part, by the several States. It does not include state normal schools nor high schools. Of the 82…

One of the most important changes in American higher education over the last 30 years has been the gradual shrinking of the old arts and sciences core of undergraduate education and the expansion of occupational and professional programs. Occupational fields have accounted for approximately 60% of bachelors' degrees in recent years, up from 45% in…

The list of 83 institutions considered in the tables within this bulletin includes all the fully organized state and territorial institutions and in addition such other institutions of higher education as are supported, at least in part, by the several States and Territories. Fifty-one of the institutions in the list, in addition to receiving…

This investigation traces the history of change in public higher education as it relates to its third mission, from the traditional service to the contemporary engagement. The article begins with the emergence of U.S. higher education institutions in the 1600s and documents the changes era by era to the present. In each era, higher education's…