call Massachusetts, the General Court of Massachusetts made the first

contribution for Harvard College. It was in 1636. This school later be­came the

famous Harvard University. It is the oldest university in the United States. It

was named in honor of John Harvard, who died in 1638. This man left his library

and half of his property to the university. People knew that the future of the

new country depended on education. And after the establishment of Harvard they

began to establish other schools. In 1776 the Americans declared their

independence. By this time nine other institutions were opened. Their present

names and the dates of their opening are:

College of Willian and Mary (1693).

Yale University (1701).

Princeton University (1746).

Washington and Lee University (1749).

Columbia University (1754).

University of Pensilvania (1755).

Brown University (1764).

Rutgers College (1766).

Dartmouth College (1770).

Some of the money for the educational institutions came from the government,

but most of it came from people who felt that by giving their money they were

investing in the new country. People believed that the new country needed

colleges. They voted for their state governments to organize colleges, which

would be supported by taxes. These are called state universities and they arc

playing leading roles in the world of education in America. By 1894 all states

had such universities. The University of Michigan, which first opened as a

school in Detroit in 1817, became a state university in 1837 when Michigan

became a state.

In the early 1800s most people thought that only men should affend college.

But other people fell certain that women too must be educated. Some of them

thought that the best would be to have co-educated colleges. Others thought

that there must be separate colleges for men and women; Oberlin College, which

was founded it 1833 was the first co-educational school. Mount Holyoke was

founded in 1837. It was the first school for women. Other schools for women

are: Vassar (1821), Wells (1868), Wellesley (1871). In 1870 Michigan, Illinois,

Missouri, California began to admit women to state universities. Now all public

universities admit women. Even many private men's colleges are beginning to

Princeton University is a vibrant community of scholarship and learning that

stands in the nation's service and in the service of all nations. Chartered in

1746, and known as the College of New Jersey until 1896, it was British North

America's fourth college. Fully coeducational since 1969, Princeton in the

2002-2003 academic year enrolled 6,632 students -- 4,635 undergraduates and

1,997 graduate students -- with a ratio of full-time students to faculty

members of 5.6 to 1. The University, with more than 12,000 employees, is Mercer

County's largest private employer and plays a major role in the educational,

The College of William and Mary, one of the nation's premier state-assisted

liberal arts universities, believes that excellence in teaching is the key to

unlocking intellectual and personal possibilities for students. Dedicated to

this philosophy and committed to limited enrollment, the College provides

high-quality undergraduate, graduate and professional education that prepares

students to make significant contributions to the Commonwealth of Virginia

and the nation. In recognition, the media have included William and Mary

among the nation's prestigious "Public Ivys," and ranked it first among state

institutions in terms of commitment to teaching.

History

Chartered on February 8, 1693, by King William III and Queen Mary II as the

second college in the American colonies. Severed formal ties with Britain in

1776. Became state-supported in 1906 and coeducational in 1918. Achieved

modern university status in 1967. Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's premier

academic honor society, and the honor code system of conduct were founded at

William and Mary.

Location

Located in historic Williamsburg, Va., approximately 150 miles south of

Washington, D.C., midway between Richmond and Norfolk, Va.

Campus

Approximately 1,200 acres including picturesque Lake Matoaka and the College

Woods. Adjacent to Colonial Williamsburg, the Ancient Campus section is

restored to 18th-century appearance.

Instructional Faculty

569 in arts and sciences, marine science, education, business administration

and law; 93 percent of the faculty teaching undergraduate courses have

attained terminal degrees.

Enrollment

7,500 of whom approximately 5,500 are undergraduates.

Student-Faculty Ratio

Approximately 12 to 1.

Student Statistics

Students from 50 states and 75 foreign countries; 79 percent of current

freshmen graduated in top tenth of their class with the middle 50 percent

having total SAT scores ranging from 1240-1400; 28 percent of all students

received need-based financial aid totaling $14 million in 2000-2001.

Tuition and Fees For the 2002-2003 session, total annual cost of tuition, fees,

students is$10,626; for out-of-state undergraduate students, $24,826. In-state

students in the School of Law pay $11,100 and out-of-state students pay

$21,290. In-state students in the Master's of Business Administration program

pay $9,978 and out-of-state students pay $21,258. In-state graduate students in

the Schools of Marine Science, Education, and Arts and Sciences pay $6,138 and

out-of-state students pay $17,972.

Student Activities Over 250 student-interest groups plus 16 national social

fraternities and 12 sororities; William and Mary Theatre, Concert and Sunday

Series; Choir; Band; Speakers Forum; live entertainment in 10,000-seat W&M

Hall. There are a total of 23 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams.

Degrees A.B., B.S., B.B.A., M.A., M.S., M.B.A., M.A.C., M.Ed., M.A.Ed.,

Ph.D., J.D., Ed.D., Psy.D., LL.M., M.P.P.

Programs of Study American Studies+#, Anthropology+#, Applied Science+#,

Art/Art History, Biochemistry (minor only), Biological Psychology*, Biology+,

Black Studies*, Business Administration+^, Chemistry+, Classical Studies

(Latin, Greek, Hebrew), Computer Science+#, Dance (minor only),Economics,

Education (certification)+#, English, Environmental Science/Studies*, Film

Studies (minor only), Geology, Government, History+#, International Studies

(International Relations and separate concentrations in African, East Asian,

European, Latin American, Middle Eastern and Russian Studies), Kinesiology,

Law^, Linguistics*, Literary and Cultural Studies*, Marine Science+#,

Mathematics+, Medieval and Renaissance Studies*, Military Science, Modern

Languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese,

Russian and Spanish), Music, Philosophy, Physics+#, Psychology+#, Public

Policy+, Religion, Sociology, Theatre and Speech, Women's Studies*

+Master's Degree Program

#Doctoral Degree Program

^Professional Degree Program

Schools Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Law, Marine

Science

Special Opportunities Freshman seminars focusing on specialized topics with a

limited class-size of 17 students. Undergraduate research opportunities.

Community service projects and organizations. Psy.D. degree in Clinical

Psychology in conjuction with Eastern Virginia Medical Authority. Center for

International Studies with Study Abroad programs in Australia, Canada, China,

Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Scotland. Summer

session with graduate offerings on campus. Special institutes and seminars.

Departmental Honors programs. 17 computer labs outfitted with the latest

Pentium PCs. A high-speed fiber-optic network connects all campus buildings,

including residence hall rooms. Foreign language houses. Military Science

Program. Advisory programs in pre-engineering, pre-law and pre-medicine.

Library The Earl Gregg Swem Library contains more than one million volumes

and computer access to many standard computerized data bases. Special

Collections include documents from many historical figures, including the

lifetime papers of U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger.

Computers Seventeen computer labs around campus outfitted with the latest

Pentium PC computers. Campus buildings--including all residence hall rooms -

are tied to a high-speed fiber-optic network, featuring the World Wide Web

and cable television.

Major Buildings Sir Christopher Wren Building (1695), oldest academic

building in the U.S.; President's House (1732); the Brafferton (1723); Phi

Beta Kappa Memorial Hall; William and Mary Hall seating up to 10,000 for

convocations, sports events, cultural programs. Among the College's newest

buildings are the University Center, McGlothlin-Street Hall, the Reves

Center, Plumeri Park and the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. Residential

halls and houses for 4,450 students.

Endowment

$366 million

Annual Budget

Total--$172 million for 2002-2003

Alumni

70,000

Governance

A 17-member Board of Visitors appointed by the Governor of Virginia.

Administration

Chancellor: Dr. Henry A. Kissinger

(The former Secretary of State and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973

is 22nd Chancellor of the College)

President: Timothy J. Sullivan '66 (25th President of the College)

Provost: Gillian T. Cell

Vice President for University Development: Dennis Cross

Vice President for Student Affairs: W. Samuel Sadler '64

Vice President for Public Affairs: Stewart H. Gamage '72

Vice President of Finance: Samuel E. Jones '75

Vice President for Administration: Anna Martin

Director of Athletics: Edward C. Driscoll, Jr.

in 1701 as the Collegiate School in the home of Abraham Pierson, its first

rector, in Killingworth, Connecticut. In 1716 the school moved to New Haven

and, with generous gift by Elihu Yale of nine bales of goods, 417 books, and a

portrait of King George the first, renamed Yale College in 1718.

Yale embarked on a steady expansion, establishing the Medical Institution

(1810), Divinity School (1822), Law School (1843), Graduate School of Arts and

Sciences (1847), the School of Fine Arts (1869) and School of Music (1894). In

1887 Yale College became Yale University. It continued to add to its academic

offerings with the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (1900),

School of Nursing (1923), School of Drama (1955), School of Architecture

campuses in Camden, Newark, and New Brunswick, is one of the major state

university systems in the nation. The university is made up of twenty-six

degree-granting divisions; twelve undergraduate colleges, eleven graduate

schools, and three schools offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Five are located in Camden, seven in Newark, and fourteen in New Brunswick.

Rutgers has a unique history as a colonial college, a land-grant institution,

and a state university. Chartered in 1766 as Queen's College, the eighth

institution of higher learning to be founded in the colonies before the

revolution, the school opened its doors in New Brunswick in 1771 with one

instructor, one sophomore, and a handful of freshmen. During this early period

the college developed as a classical liberal arts institution. In 1825, the

name of the college was changed to Rutgers to honor a former trustee and

revolutionary war veteran, Colonel Henry Rutgers.

Rutgers College became the land-grant college of New Jersey in 1864,

School with departments of agriculture, engineering, and chemistry. Further

expansion in the sciences came with the founding of the New Jersey Agricultural

Experiment Station in 1880, the College of Engineering in 1914, and the College

of Agriculture (now Cook College) in 1921. The precursors to several other

Rutgers divisions were also founded during this period: the College of Pharmacy

in 1892, the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College) in 1918, and

the School of Education (now a graduate school) in 1924.

Students:

Full-time: 18,050

Part-time: 4,276

Total: 22,326

Full-time Undergraduate: 9,863

Full-time Graduate/professional: 8,187

(Fall 2001; most current figures)

Undergraduate Admissions:

Penn received record-high 19,153 applications for admission to the Class of

2005. Of those applicants, 4,132, or 21.6 percent, were offered admission,

making the class of 2005 the most selective in Penn's history and the

institution among the most selective universities in America. Ninety-two

percent of the students admitted for Fall 2001 came from the top 10 percent of

their high school graduating class and scored a combined 1,412 on the SAT.

2,391 students matriculated into this year's freshman class.

undergraduate schools for Fall 2001, and 401 (15.5%) received admissions

offers. Ten percent of the first Ten percent of the first year classes are

international students. Of the international students accepted to the Class of

2005, 11.1% were from Africa and the Middle East, 44.6% from Asia, 1% from

Australia and the Pacific, 14.3% from Canada and Mexico, 10.6% from

Central/South America and the Caribbean, and 18.6% from Europe. Penn had 3,485

international students enrolled in Fall 2001.

Study Abroad:

Penn offers 65 study-abroad programs in 36 countries. Penn ranks first among

the Ivy League schools in the number of students studying abroad, according to

the most recent data (Institute for International Education, 1999-2000). In

1999-2000, 1,196 Penn undergraduate students participated in study- abroad

programs.

Diversity:

About 42 percent of those accepted for admission to the Class of 2005 are

Black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. Women comprise 50 percent of all

students currently enrolled.

Undergraduate Schools:

Penn's four undergraduate schools, with their Fall 2001 student populations,

are:

The College at Penn (School of Arts and Sciences), 6,464

School of Engineering and Applied Science, 1,612

School of Nursing, 363

The Wharton School, 1,729

Graduate and Professional Schools:

Penn's 12 graduate and professional schools, with their Fall 2001 student

populations, are:

Annenberg School for Communication, 78

School of Arts and Sciences, 2,302

School of Dental Medicine, 530

Graduate School of Education, 1,059

School of Engineering and Applied Science, 884

Graduate School of Fine Arts, 562

Law School, 856

School of Medicine, 1,091

School of Nursing, 351

School of Social Work, 326

School of Veterinary Medicine, 451

Associated: 2,062

Total: 4,319

The student-faculty ratio is 6.4:1 (Fall 2001).

Measures of distinction of the faculty include:

61 members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences;

44 members of the Institute of Medicine;

39 members of the National Academy of Sciences;

91 Guggenheim Fellowships (1980-2001);

11 members of the National Academy of Engineering;

Seven MacArthur Award recipients;

Six National Medal of Science recipients;

Four Nobel Prize recipients; and

Two Pulitzer Prize winners

Staff:

Penn is the largest private employer in the city of Philadelphia and the

fourth-largest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of Fall 2001, Penn has a

total regular work force of 12,290. The University of Pennsylvania Health

System, which includes the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, employs

an additional 12,673 people.

Academics:

Total undergraduate majors currently being pursued: 94 (Academic Year 2002).

Libraries:

5.0 million books

3.6 million items on microfilm

39,439 periodical subscriptions

1,952 CD-ROM databases

4,734 e-journals

Athletics and Recreation:

A charter member of the Ivy League, Penn offers intercollegiate competition

for men in 20 sports, including basketball, baseball, heavyweight crew,

lightweight crew, cross country, fencing, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer,

sprint football, squash, swimming, tennis, indoor track, outdoor track and

wrestling. It offers intercollegiate competition for women in 14 sports,

including basketball, crew, cross country, field hockey, fencing, golf,

gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, softball, squash, swimming, tennis, indoor track,

outdoor track and volleyball. During the 2001-2002 academic year, there were

14,678 team members participating in 20 intramural teams; 927 additional

students were members of 30 club sports.

Undergraduate Admission and Fees:

$27,988 (Academic Year 2003)

Room and Board Fees:

$8,224 (Academic Year 2003)

Community Service:

Approximately 5,000 University students, faculty and staff participate in

more than 300 Penn volunteer and community service programs. The Middle States

Association of Colleges and Schools recognized the University's West

Philadelphia Improvement Corps (WEPIC), in Penn's Center for Community

Partnerships, for exemplary school-college partnerships in Pennsylvania.

Fundraising (Fiscal Year 2001):

Endowment $3.382 billion (as of June 30, 2001)

Voluntary support: $285 million

107,941 donors gave $138 million in contributions

$92 million in gifts from foundations and associations

$550 million in awards

4,169 awards

2,655 projects

1,219 principal investigators

Budget:

$3.21 billion (Fiscal Year 2002)

Payroll (including benefits):

$1.324 billion (Fiscal Year 2002)

Washington and Lee University.

Washington and Lee is a small, private, liberal arts university nestled

between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains in Lexington, VA. It is the

ninth oldest institution of higher learning in the nation.

In 1749, Scotch-Irish pioneers who had migrated deep into the Valley of

Virginia founded a small classical school called Augusta Academy, some 20 miles

north of what is now Lexington. In 1776, the trustees, fired by patriotism,

changed the name of the school to Liberty Hall. Four years later the school was

moved to the vicinity of Lexington, where in 1782 it was chartered as Liberty

Hall Academy by the Virginia legislature and empowered to grant degrees. A

limestone building, erected in 1793 on the crest of a ridge overlooking

Lexington, burned in 1803, though its ruins are preserved today as a symbol of

the institution's honored past.

In 1796, George Washington saved the struggling Liberty Hall Academy when he

gave the school its first major endowment--$20,000 worth of James River Canal

stock. The trustees promptly changed the name of the school to Washington

Academy as an expression of their gratitude. In a letter to the trustees,

Washington responded, "To promote the Literature in this rising Empire, and to

encourage the Arts, have ever been amongst the warmest wishes of my heart." The

donations - one of the largest to any educational institution at that time

reluctantly accepted the position of president of the College in 1865. Because

of his leadership of the Confederate army, Lee worried he "might draw upon the

College a feeling of hostility," but also added that "I think it the duty of

every citizen in the present condition of the Country, to do all in his power

to aid in the restoration of peace and harmony." During his brief presidency,

Lee established the School of Law, encouraged development of the sciences, and

instituted programs in business instruction that led to the founding of the

School of Commerce in 1906. He also inaugurated courses in journalism, which

developed by 1925 into The School of Journalism--now the Department of

Journalism and Mass Communications. These courses in business and journalism

were the first offered in colleges in the United States. After Lee's death in

1870, the trustees voted to change the name from Washington College to

Washington and Lee University.

Once an all-male institution, Washington and Lee first admitted women to its

law school in 1972. The first undergraduate women matriculated in 1985. Since

then, Washington and Lee has flourished. The University now boasts a new

science building, a performing arts center and an indoor tennis facility, and

it continues to climb the ranking charts of U.S. News and World Report and

other rating agencies. Washington and Lee is ranked 15th among the top national

liberal arts colleges by U.S. News.

Washington and Lee University observed its 250th Anniversary with a

year-long, national celebration during the 1998-99 academic year.

Columbia University.

Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King’s College by royal charter of

King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in

Controversy preceded the founding of the College, with various groups

competing to determine its location and religious affiliation. Advocates of New

York City met with success on the first point, while the Anglicans prevailed on

the latter. However, all constituencies agreed to commit themselves to

principles of religious liberty in establishing the policies of the College.

In July 1754, Samuel Johnson held the first classes in a new schoolhouse

adjoining Trinity Church, located on what is now lower Broadway in Manhattan.

There were eight students in the class. At King’s College, the future leaders

of colonial society could receive an education designed to “enlarge the Mind,

improve the Understanding, polish the whole Man, and qualify them to support

the brightest Characters in all the elevated stations in life.” One early

grant the MD degree.

The American Revolution brought the growth of the College to a halt, forcing

a suspension of instruction in 1776 that lasted for eight years. However, the

institution continued to exert a significant influence on American life through

the people associated with it. Among the earliest students and Trustees of

King’s College were John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States;

Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury; Gouverneur Morris, the

author of the final draft of the U.S. Constitution; and Robert R. Livingston, a

member of the five-man committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence.

The College reopened in 1784 with a new name—Columbia—that embodied the

patriotic fervor, which had inspired the nation’s quest for independence. The

revitalized institution was recognizable as the descendant of its colonial

ancestor, thanks to its inclination toward Anglicanism and the needs of an

urban population, but there were important differences: Columbia College

reflected the legacy of the Revolution in the greater economic, denominational,

and geographic diversity of its new students and leaders. Cloistered campus

life gave way to the more common phenomenon of day students, who lived at home

or lodged in the city.

In 1849, the College moved from Park Place, near the present site of City

century, Columbia rapidly assumed the shape of a modern university. The Law

School was founded in 1858, and the country’s first mining school, a precursor

of today’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, was established in 1864.

When Seth Low became Columbia’s president in 1890, he vigorously promoted the

university ideal for the College, placing the fragmented federation of

autonomous and competing schools under a central administration that stressed

cooperation and shared resources. Barnard College for women had become

affiliated with Columbia in 1889; the medical school came under the aegis of

the University in 1891, followed by Teachers of graduate faculties in political

science, philosophy, and pure science established Columbia as one of the

nation’s earliest centers for graduate education. In 1896, the Trustees

officially authorized the use of yet another new name, Columbia University, and

today the institution is officially known as Columbia University in the City of

New York.

Low’s greatest accomplishment, however, was moving the University from 49th

Street to Morningside Heights and a more spacious campus designed as an urban

academic village by McKim, Mead & White, the renowned turn-of-the-century

architectural firm. Architect Charles Follen McKim provided Columbia with

stately buildings patterned after those of the Italian Renaissance. The

University continued to prosper after its move uptown.

During the presidency of Nicholas Murray Butler (1902–1945), Columbia emerged

as a preeminent national center for educational innovation and scholarly

achievement. John Erskine taught the first Great Books Honors Seminar at

Columbia College in 1919, making the study of original masterworks the

foundation of undergraduate education. Columbia became, in the words of College

alumnus Herman Wouk, a place of “doubled magic,” where “the best things of the

of all human history and thought were inside the rectangle.” The study of the

sciences flourished along with the liberal arts, and in 1928,

Columbia–Presbyterian Medical Center, the first such center to combine

teaching, research, and patient care, was officially opened as a joint project

between the medical school and The Presbyterian Hospital.

By the late 1930s, a Columbia student could study with the likes of Jacques

Barzun, Paul Lazarsfeld, Mark Van Doren, Lionel Trilling, and I.I. Rabi, to

name just a few of the great minds of the Morningside campus. The University’s

graduates during this time were equally accomplished—for example, two alumni of

Columbia’s Law School, Charles Evans Hughes and Harlan Fiske Stone (who also

held the position of Law School dean), served successively as Chief Justice of

the United States Supreme Court.

Research into the atom by faculty members I.I. Rabi, Enrico Fermi, and

Polykarp Kusch placed Columbia’s Physics Department in the international

spotlight in the 1940s, and the founding of the School of International Affairs

(now the School of International and Public Affairs) in 1946 marked the

beginning of intensive growth in international relations as a major scholarly

focus of the University. The Oral History movement in the United States was

launched at Columbia in 1948.

Columbia celebrated its Bicentennial in 1954 during a period of steady

expansion. This growth mandated a major campus-building program in the 1960s,

and, by the end of the decade, five of the University’s schools were housed in

energy on Columbia’s campus in recent years has been even more sweeping. The

1980s saw the completion of over $145 million worth of new construction,

including two residence halls, a computer science center, the Rare Book and

Manuscript Library, a chemistry building, the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art

Gallery, Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, and much more. The quality of student life

on campus has been a primary concern, and the opening of Morris A. Schapiro

Hall in 1988 enabled Columbia College to achieve its long-held goal of offering

four years of housing to all undergraduate students. A second gift from this

farsighted benefactor led to the opening in 1992 of the Morris A. Schapiro

Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research, which is helping to

foundations, Columbia is approaching the twenty-first century with a firm sense

what has been accomplished in the past and confidence in what it can achieve in

the years to come.

In 1897, the University moved from 49th Street and Madison Avenue, where it

had stood for fifty years, to its present location on Morningside Heights at

116th Street and Broadway. Seth Low, the President of the University at the

time of the move, sought to create an academic village in a more spacious

setting. Charles Follen McKim of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead &

White modeled the new campus after the Athenian agora. The Columbia campus

comprises the largest single collection of McKim, Mead & White buildings in

existence.

The architectural centerpiece of the campus is Low Memorial Library, named in

honor of Seth Low’s father. Built in the Roman classical style, it appears in

the New York City Register of Historic Places. The building today houses the

A broad flight of steps descends from Low Library to an expansive plaza, a

popular place for students to gather, and from there to College Walk, a

promenade that bisects the central campus. Beyond College Walk is the South

Campus, where Butler Library, the University’s main library, stands. South

Campus is also the site of many of Columbia College’s facilities, including

student residences, the Ferris Booth Hall activities center, and the College’s

administrative offices and classroom buildings, along with the building housing

the Journalism School.

To the north of Low Library stands Pupin Hall, which in 1966 was designated a

national historic landmark in recognition of the atomic research undertaken

there by Columbia’s scientists beginning in 1925. To the east is St. Paul’s

Chapel, which is listed with the New York City Register of Historic Places.

Many newer buildings surround the original campus. Among the most impressive

are the Sherman Fairchild Center for the Life Sciences, the Computer Science

building, Morris A. Schapiro Hall, and the Morris A. Schapiro Center for

Engineering and Physical Science Research.

Two miles to the north of Morningside Heights is the twenty-acre campus of

the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, overlooking the Hudson River in

Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Among the most prominent buildings on the site

are the twenty-story Julius and Armand Hammer Health Sciences Center, the

William Black Medical Research building, and the seventeen-story tower of the

College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1989, The Presbyterian Hospital opened

the very latest advances in medical technology and patient care. To the west is

the New York State Psychiatric Institute; east of Broadway will be the Audubon

Biomedical Science and Technology Park, which will include the new Center for

Disease Prevention. The Park is being developed as a major urban research

complex to house activities on the cutting edge of scientific and medical

research.

Other interesting information.

It is also very interesting, that in the USA many universities are connected

with each other. They belong to different unions. For example, Dartmouth

College, Brown University, Columbia University, Princeton University and Yale

University are the parts of «Ivy League». It is a union of the most respectable

rather old and popular. But they are not cheap, because students must pay much

money for their education.

The most expensive University is Dartmouth. The cheapest one is Yale.

All the universities have their own emblems, which are always different and

9 form «V».

media exert a tremendous influence on the lives of individuals. Through these

means, knowledge and cultural values are generated, transmitted, and preserved

States, illiteracy has been virtually eliminated. However, census estimates

suggest that 2.4 percent of the population over age 25 is functionally

illiterate, that is, they are unable to read and write well enough to meet the

demands of everyday life. More of the population has received more education

than ever before. Among Americans aged 25 and older in 1993, about four-fifths

had completed high school, as compared with only about one-fourth as recently

as 1940. In 1993 nearly 22 percent of the population had com pleted four or

more years of college. This same trend toward increased accessibility and usage

applies to America's cultural institutions, which have continued to thrive

to graduate school by both public and private institutions. Elementary and

secondary education involves 12 years of schooling, the successful completion

of which leads to a high school diploma. Although public education can be

defined in various ways, one key concept is the accountability of school

officials to the voters. In theory, responsibility for operating the public

education system in the United States is local. In fact, much of the local

control has been superseded, and state legislation controls financing methods,

academic standards, and policy and curriculum guidelines. Because public

education is separately developed within each state, variations exist from one

state to another. Parallel paths among states have developed, however, in part

because public education is also a matter of national interest.

Public elementary and secondary education is supported financially by three

levels of government—local, state, and federal. Local school districts often

levy property taxes, which are the major source of financing for the public

school systems. One of the problems that arises because of the heavy reliance

on local property tax is a disparity in the quality of education received by

students. Rich communities can afford to pay more per student than poorer

communities; consequently, the disparity in wealth affects the quality of

education received. Some states have taken measures to level this imbalance by

distributing property tax collections to school districts based on the number

of students enrolled.

When public education was established in the American colonies in the

mid-17th century, it was viewed by many as an instrument that would break down

the barriers of social class and prejudice. Public schools were intended for

all creeds, classes, and religions. In addition to the development of

individuals, public schools were to promote social harmony by equalizing the

private schools, however, until well into the 19th century. Then, in the

decades before the American Civil War (1861-1865), a transition took place from

private to public school education. This transition was to provide children of

all classes with a free education. The idea of free public education did,

however, encounter opposition. The nonw hite population, which consisted

primarily of blacks, was either totally denied an education or allowed to

attend only racially segregated schools.

School Segregation

Before the Civil War, public school segregation was common both in the South

and in the North. In every southern state except Kentucky and Maryland, laws

existed that forbade the teaching of reading and writing to slaves.

In 1867, after the end of the Civil War, schools for blacks began to be

established in various parts of the South. For nearly a century, until 1954,

most education facilities in the southern states remained racially segregated

by state laws. Not only were schools segregated, but, in schools for blacks,

the physical conditions and facilities were poor, transportation to such

schools was meager or nonexistent, and expenditures per black pupil fell below

during this same period, most black chi ldren also attended separate schools.

Sometimes this was the result of state laws; more often it was the result of

policy decisions, either officially acknowledged or clandestine. Examples of

the latter are gerrymandered school districts and pupil transfer systems. The

result, in the South and the North, was a dual system of education for blacks

of the United States declared racial segregation in schools illegal, in its

landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. Since then progress

has been made toward desegregation; however, widespread de facto segregation

still exists today in both suburban and urban areas. In the late 1980s more

than 60 percent of black and Hispanic American students attended schools where

minority group enrollment constituted over 50 percent of the total. In some

large cities, either because of residential patterns or because of an intent to

segregate schools, entire school districts are still segregated. Some districts

have attempted the busing of pupils to help achieve integration, but this has

proved generally unpopular and unworkable. Thus, the right to a desegregated

In 1993 some 59,680 public elementary and 19,995 public secondary schools

were in operation in the United States, in addition to 4826 special-purpose or

combined schools. Enrollment in public schools in 1993 totaled about 31 million

elementary pupils and about 11.7 million secondary students. In addition,

private elementary and secondary schools together enrolled about 4.9 million

students in 1991. The largest system of private education in the United States

is that of the Roman Catholic church, with some 2.6 million students in 1991.

In public schools, the average expenditure per pupil in the United States in

1993 was about $5574, ranging from a low of about $3218 in Utah to a high of

about $9712 in New Jersey.

Higher Education

The first American colleges were small and attended by an aristocratic

student body. The earliest institutions were established in the United States

between the mid-17th and mid-18th centuries: Harvard University (1636), the

College of William and Mary (1693), Yale University (1701), the University of

Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton University (1746), Columbia University (1754),

Brown University (1764), Rutgers University (1771), and Dartmouth College

(1769). These private institutions initially prepared students for careers in

theology, law, medicine, and teaching—a curriculum too narrow for a country

experiencing a rapid expansion of its territory, industry, and industrial

population.

An important development occurred in 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln

signed the Morrill Act (see Land-Grant Colleges), which donated public lands to

the several states and territories to provide colleges with the resources

necessary to teach such branches of learning as agriculture and the mechanical

arts. The Morrill Act was designed to promote the liberal and practical

education of the new industrial population. Based on the act, each state was

granted 12,141 hectares (30,000 acres) of federal land for each member it had

in Congress. In addition to creating colleges, the Morrill Act extended

education to groups that would benefit from higher education regardless of

accelerated the admission of women to institutions of higher learning. Some of

the larger institutions that were established or expanded as a result of the

Morrill Act include the University of Arizona (1885), the University of

California at Berkeley (1868), the University of Florida (1853), the University

of Illinois (1867), Purdue University (1865), the University of Maryland

(1807), Michigan State University (1855), Ohio State University (1870),

Pennsylvania State University (1855), and the University of Wisconsin (1849).

Higher education, like elementary and secondary education, has historically

been racially segregated in the United States. Before 1954 most blacks gained

access to higher education only by attending colleges and universities

established for blacks, nearly all of which were located in the southern

states. With the gradual dissolution of most traditional racial barriers, more

and more blacks enrolled in institutions where whites made up the majority of

the student body. By 1990 only about 17 percent of all black students were

enrolled in the 105 historically black colleges and universities.

Accreditation

A unique feature of higher education in the United States is the device known

as accreditation, which includes voluntary self-evaluation by a school and

appraisal by a group of its peers. This process operates through nationally

recognized accrediting agencies and associations and certain state bodies.

These agencies or associations have established educational criteria to

evaluate institutions in terms of their own objectives and to ascertain whether

programs of educational quality are being maintained. They provide institutions

with continued stimulus for improvement, to ensure that accredited status may

serve as an authentic index of educational quality.

education varies by type of institution. Tuition is highest at private

four-year institutions, and lowest at public two-year institutions. The private

four-year colleges nearly quadrupled their average tuition rates between 1975

and 1990. For private four-year colleges, tuition and fees for the 1992-1993

academic year averaged about $13,043, compared with about $2827 at public

four-year colleges. The cost of attending an institution of higher education

includes not only tuition and fees, however, but also books and supplies,

transportation, personal expenses and, sometimes, room and board. Although

tuition and fees generally are substantially lower at public institutions than

at private ones, the other student costs are about the same. The average cost

for tuition, fees, and room and board for the 1992-1993 academic year at

private four-year colleges was about $18,892. At public four-year colleges the

average combined cost was about $6449.

Enrollment Trends

In 1992 about 62.1 million people were enrolled in elementary and secondary

schools and institutions of higher education, about 1.1 million more than the

increased sharply between 1970 and 1992, from about 1.1 million to about 2.9

million children. This rise in nursery school enrollment may have occurred

because of the increasingly recognized value of preprimary education as well as

the growth in employment outside the home of women with young children. College

and university enrollment also increased substantially, from some 8.6 million

students in 1970 to 14.5 million in 1992. The increase in enrollment in

institutions of higher education was primarily due to the growth in attendance

by women. Of the total school enrollment in 1992, whites constituted about 83

percent, blacks about 10 percent, and Hispanic Americans (who may be of any

race) about 7 percent.

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