The American debate over whether a college education is worth it began when the colonists arrived from Europe and founded “New College” (later renamed Harvard University) in 1636. In spring 2024 there were more than 17.8 million college students in the United States. [133][269]

College in America: 1600s–1800s

Colonial America produced nine colleges that still operate: Harvard University (1636), the College of William & Mary (1693), Yale University (1701), Princeton University (1746), Columbia University (1754), Brown University (1764), Dartmouth College (1769), Rutgers University (1766), and the University of Pennsylvania (1740 or 1749). These universities were funded by the colony or England and usually catered to a specific religious denomination, such as Congregational or Presbyterian (Puritan). Primary and secondary school systems were not yet established, so “college students” were sometimes boys as young as 14 or 15 years old and were admitted to receive preparatory education with the assumption that they would matriculate to college-level courses. [3][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86]

Colonial colleges were mainly founded and attended by wealthy Puritans and followed the models of British and Scottish universities, which focused on general education and moral character. The goal of the college was to produce Christian gentlemen who would inherit family businesses, remain within the Congregational or Presbyterian (Puritan) faith, and be responsible leaders in the New World. Colonial college tuition costs and the loss of an able-bodied man from the family farm or business made the prestige and social status conferred by college unattainable for most families. About 1 percent of white males aged 18–21 attended college, and students frequently left college after their first or second year, with no “dropout” stigma. Out of 35 students, Yale conferred nine bachelor’s degrees by 1711. Colonial colleges excluded women but sometimes had “Indian schools” to spread Puritanism in Native American communities for religious indoctrination purposes. The American Revolution (1775–83) drained colleges of students who became soldiers and buildings that became barracks and of the funds from England, resulting in the closing of many colleges postwar. [3][87][88]

The late 18th and early 19th centuries created a college-building boom, increasing the number of schools from 25 colleges in 1800 to 241 colleges in 1860; the variety of schools to include seminaries, scientific schools, military service academies, and teaching schools; and the programs of study to include medicine, law, military science, and agriculture. State universities came into prominence beginning with the University of North Carolina (1795) and the University of Georgia (1801). In the spring of 1833, Oberlin Collegiate Institute (now Oberlin College) admitted women to a “ladies course” program and in 1837 admitted four women to the baccalaureate program, three of whom graduated in 1841 with degrees. [3][100]

The 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Act gave federally controlled land to states to open “land-grant” colleges, which were required to focus on “useful arts” like agriculture, mechanics, mining, and military instruction and thus often included “A&M” (agricultural and mechanical) in the names. The idea of a “useful” education also created schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1851. Many craftsmen who relied upon apprenticeships were skeptical of college training and distrusted scholars and scientists. A college degree was still seen by many as a social marker rather than a marker of educational attainment. [3][89]

By 1865 most Southern colleges ceased offering classes because the American Civil War caused significant physical damage to many colleges, while others were made into hospitals and shelters for soldiers, and many Southern students and faculty left college for the Confederate Army. In 1870 the number of colleges was 560 (up from just nine colleges by the American Revolution). [3][87]

The Early 1900s

The early 1900s saw institutions created to educate groups excluded by traditional colleges: women, Black people, immigrants, and Roman Catholics. Black colleges remained restricted to grade-school and agricultural- or industrial-focused instruction with little college-level education offered. Iowa State University was the first co-ed land-grant college, though women remained segregated and were expected to study “domestic science” or similar topics. Colleges were built in the South to keep Southern sons “far from the dangerous notions circulating at a Harvard or a Yale,” with high tuitions and a code of honor that included duels amongst students. “Hilltop colleges” in New England opened to cater to older working students training to be teachers or ministers. Colleges built on the emerging Western frontier had small populations to support them and there were often less than a few hundred students who could attend the college. “Diploma mills” also popped up during this time, especially the “medical college,” which frequently had no campus or faculty but would confer degrees in exchange for donations. [3][90][91]

The goal of college attendance still was not completion of a bachelor’s degree. Some students took two years of courses in order to earn a license of instruction certificate to teach public school, but many did not complete the degree because, as explained by Roger L. Geiger, distinguished professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, “There was nothing to be done with a bachelor degree that could not also be done without one.” [3][92]

By 1900 5 percent (about 256,000) of 18–21 year old males attended college, up from 3.1 percent (32,364) in 1860 and 1 percent (1,237) in 1800. Students were normally accepted based on gender, religion, and race. Graduation rates continued to be low: about 30 percent of the 1903 freshman class at Kentucky State College graduated, while Transylvania University averaged a 50 percent dropout rate in the first year and barely 10 percent graduated with a degree in four years. [3][87]

Although tuition had seen no major increases, the price of college was still too high for the average family. For the 1907–08 academic year, Brown University published an average tuition budget: $105 for tuition, $48 for “incidental fees,” $60 for room, $150 for board, and $30 for books and lab fees, totaling $393 per year, or $9,535.67 in 2012 U.S. dollars. By 1910 “undergraduate life” came into prominence with mascots, school colors, college hymns, intercollegiate athletics, and other traditions. [3]

World War I dropped enrollments on the East Coast by 27–40 percent, but only 10 percent of Stanford men left college for the war. In total, 540 colleges were made into training campuses for the Students’ Army Training Corps to train 125,000 men. Around this time, the American Medical Association began lobbying for medical schools to require some college science (if not a completed college degree) for admission into medical schools, law schools followed Harvard Law School’s example to require baccalaureate degrees for admission, and seminaries were requiring at least a year of college. [3][92]

After 1920 college students became associated with parties, gambling, and “bathtub gin.” But such partying was tolerated because of the upward social mobility gained by making contacts and partying with the right crowd. [3]

Between 1920 and 1945 secondary schools expanded, increasing the number of high-school graduates, the number of college students from 250,000 to 1.3 million, and the percentage of college students from 5 percent to 15 percent. However, an 18- to 24-year-old white person was four times more likely to attend college than a Black person of the same age, and women constituted about 40 percent of college enrollments but were still being trained in segregation as teachers, good wives, and mothers. [3]

In the 1920s and 1930s college tuition started to rise. One national survey showed tuition at $70 in 1920 and $133 in 1940, or from $1,064.44 to $2,889.21 in 2023 U.S. dollars. In comparison, a 1940 new Pontiac car cost $483 ($10,492.38 in 2023 dollars). [3]

World War II through the 1980s

After World War II, colleges and universities moved toward advanced, selective programs and expanded the base of students admitted. Research universities, junior colleges (now called community colleges), and for-profit institutions thrived. [3]

In the 1939–40 school year student enrollment was under 1.5 million nationally, but by the 1949–50 school year student enrollment grew to 2.7 million. The 1944 G.I. Bill contributed to some of the enrollment gains, and by the beginning of the 1945–46 school year 88,000 veterans were accepted into the program; by 1946 over one million were accepted; and by 1950 14 million veterans were in the program. Women represented about 40 percent of enrollment in the 1939–40 school year, but that number dropped to 32 percent in 1950. Individual schools implemented honor programs, specialty seminars, study abroad, and smaller class sizes to attract more discerning students. By 1960 national enrollment was at 3.6 million and at 7.9 million in 1970. Society became interested in the college lives of “Joe College” and “Betty Coed” and created the college ideal of graduating in four years, marrying the college sweetheart, and finding a good job. [3]

The federal government created the Higher Education General Information Survey, later renamed the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, and collected data in the fall of 1968, the first time standardized data was collected about colleges and universities nationwide. [93]

Pell Grants were introduced in 1972 and increased the number of students for whom higher education was possible. By 1978 the financial aid focus changed from grants to loans, increasing the amount of debt a graduating college student owned. In the 1975–76 school year 75 percent of students received grants and 21 percent received loans, compared to the 1984–85 school year, in which 29 percent of students received grants and 66 percent received loans. [3][94]

The major shift in higher education during this time was the transition from mass higher education, expecting to educate 40–50 percent of high-school graduates, to universal higher education, expecting to educate all high-school graduates. The shift was seen in public school enrollments, which accounted for about 75 percent of enrollments in 1970, up from the almost equal split between public and private colleges in 1950. Community colleges and technical institutes also gained students: from 82,000 in 1950 to 1.3 million in 1980. [3]

Transfer students were accommodated, classes were offered at military bases, and courses were offered at extension sites for nontraditional students while colleges were opening to diverse student populations. Title IX (1972) and affirmative action demanded inclusive admission practices for women and Black students. [3][95][96]

The 1970s also saw the shift from higher education for education’s sake to a need for pre-professional studies and a translation to work after graduation. For many, to be considered middle-class or to get a middle-class job required a college degree. [2]

The 1970s and 1980s brought questions of whether the return on a college degree was worth the investment. In 1971 a male college graduate earned 22 percent more than a high-school graduate, but by 1979 a college degree increased earnings by 13 percent. By 1987 the earning gap was 38 percent, which was an improvement but added doubts about the stability of higher education as an investment. The 1980s also brought a dramatic increase in the cost of college, which was rising faster than inflation and the average family income. [7][29]

College Enrollment and Costs: 1990s to 2019

The 1990s and 2000s saw a rise in enrollment and tuition costs and a steadily lower unemployment rate for college graduates. College enrollment increased 11 percent between 1990 and 2000 and increased 37 percent from 2000–10 to 21 million students. The average college tuition in the 1990–91 school year was $10,620 and rose to $13,393 in 2000–01. Between the 2000–01 school year and the 2010–11 school year public college costs (tuition, room, and board) increased 42 percent to $18,133.

The unemployment rate for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher in 1990 was 6.5 percent (compared to 24.9 percent for high-school dropouts) and was 3.7 percent in 2000 (compared to 18.4 percent for high-school dropouts). By 2010 the unemployment rate for college graduates increased to 5.5 percent, while the rate for college dropouts was 17.3 percent. [97][98][99]

A 2011 Pew Research survey showed 50 percent of college presidents said college is meant to “mature and grow intellectually,” while 48 percent said college should “provide skills, knowledge and training to help…[students] succeed in the working world.” [25]

The number of colleges and universities grew from 1,851 in 1950, to 3,535 in 1990, to 6,900 in 2013. In the 1949–50 school year 2.66 million students were enrolled in colleges and universities; by the 1989–90 school year 13.54 million students were enrolled. In fall 2013, 19.9 million students were enrolled in colleges and universities. [1][2]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 33.4 percent of the adult U.S. population had a bachelor’s degree or higher as of Mar. 30, 2017 (up from 28 percent in 2006), with 20.8 percent holding bachelor’s degrees, 9.3 percent with associate’s degrees, 1.5 percent with professional degrees, and 1.9 percent with doctorates. In 1940, when the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting education data, only 4.6 percent of adults held bachelor’s degrees. [109][110]

College Education amid COVID-19

As many colleges went online or to a hybrid online and in-person model during the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges overall saw a significant drop in fall 2020 enrollment. Undergraduate enrollment fell 3.6 percent (about 560,000 students) from fall 2019. Community colleges were hit especially hard, with a drop of more than 10 percent (more than 544,000 students). [130]

21.7 percent fewer high-school seniors (class of 2020) had enrolled in college, with a larger drop (32.6 percent) at high-poverty high schools. 14 percent fewer students in the class of 2021 filed Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms. [130][131]

Doug Shapiro, executive research director at the National Student Clearinghouse, called the drops “completely unprecedented.” [130]

One survey showed that 75 percent of households with at least one member attending college classes in fall 2020 changed higher education plans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most often, households took classes in a different format (39 percent) or canceled plans altogether (37 percent), according to Anthony P. Carnevale, director and research professor, and Megan L. Fasules, assistant research professor and research economist, both at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. [132]

Post-Pandemic College Experience

College enrollment continued to decline after the pandemic, with 17,153,317 students enrolled in spring 2023, a 7.1 percent decrease in college enrollment from 2019. Both college students and college instructors faced challenges of limited online learning during the pandemic. Rocky classroom experiences resulted in lower test scores, incomplete instruction in vital courses such as math, and increased mental health issues like anxiety. Colleges fear the fallout will last years as reports show that elementary students have experienced the same negative effects of the pandemic. [133][135]

After a widely expected decline, freshman enrollment surprisingly rose for the fall 2024 term. The 5.5 percent increase (about 130,000 students) comes about a year after there were enormous complications with the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) system that delayed application processing, which could have fueled a decline in freshman enrolling right after high school. The Department of Education reported it would award federal aid to 3 percent more students in 2024. [267][268][288]