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Colleges and Universities
More than 60 percent of all high school graduates continue their formal education after graduation. Many attend colleges that offer four-year programs leading to a bachelor’s degree. College students are called undergraduates, and their four years of study are divided into the freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years. In most colleges the first two years are designed to provide a broad general education, and during this time the college student is usually required to take courses in general areas of study, such as English, science, foreign languages, and social science. By the junior year the student begins to major in one particular field of study, or discipline.
Some institutions of higher learning offer only the four-year college program. A university offers graduate or post-college programs, as well. Graduate degrees in fields such as English literature, chemistry, and history are granted by graduate schools of arts and sciences. These schools may offer one- or two-year programs leading to a master’s degree (M. A. ), and programs lasting three years or more that lead to the degree of doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D. ). A candidate for a Ph. D. must meet certain course requirements in his field, pass written and oral examinations, and present a written thesis based on original research. Some universities offer postdoctoral programs that extend study and research beyond the Ph. D.
Many universities also have what are called professional schools for study in such fields as law, medicine, engineering, architecture, social work, business, library science, and education. Professional schools differ widely in their requirements for admission and the lengths of their programs. Medical students, for example, must complete at least three years of premedical studies at an undergraduate school before they can enter the three- or four-year program at a medical school. Engineering and architecture students, on the other hand, can enter a four- or five-year professional school immediately upon completion of secondary school.
The various disciplines, or fields of study, are organized by department. These departments are staffed by faculty members ranging from full professors to
instructors. A full professor has tenure, which is permanent appointment with guaranteed employment at the institution until his retirement. Ranking below the full professors are the associate professors, who may or may not have tenure, depending on the policy of the particular college or university. Next are the assistant professors, who do not have tenure. At the bottom of this academic ladder are the instructors. They are usually young teachers who have just received their doctorates or will receive them shortly. Sometimes graduate students are employed as part-time teaching assistants while they are completing their graduate work.
Today almost 5 million men and more than 3 million women attend more than 2500 colleges and universities. Approximately 85 percent of these schools are coeducational, which means that both men and women are enrolled in the same institutions. Colleges range in size from a few hundred students to many thousands. Several universities have more than 20, 000 undergraduate and graduate students on one campus. A number of large state institutions maintain branches on several different campuses throughout the state. Classes vary from seminars, or small discussion groups, of fewer than twenty to large lecture courses for hundreds of students.
Approximately one-fourth of all college and university students attend private institutions. The rest study at state or municipal, publicly financed colleges and universities. Every state has at least one public university, and in addition there are several hundred state and locally supported colleges. The academic programs of these private and public institutions are very similar. Indeed, there are only a few important differences between public and private colleges. Private colleges are privately organized and privately run; public institutions are operated under the control of state or local officials. The other differences involve admissions policies and the methods by which public and private institutions are financed.
Admission to a state university is usually open to all men and women who have graduated from high schools of the state and who have satisfactory high school records. Many state universities require students to earn high scores on achievement and aptitude examinations, but the underlying philosophy is that all students who want an education and are qualified should have the opportunity to continue their education at public institutions. Tuition rates are low, compared to private-college costs, and scholarship aid and loans are frequently available. A few nonresidents are admitted to state schools, but they must pay much higher tuition fees than residents of the state.
Admission to some private colleges is more selective and rigid than admission to some public institutions, and frequently the student body is smaller. High school applicants to some private colleges must submit detailed application forms, and they must take scholastic aptitude and achievement examinations. College admissions committees decide which students to accept, basing their judgment on these applications, the results of the examinations, high school records, and other factors such as personal interviews with the applicants and letters of recommendation from high school teachers. For certain colleges, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia, applications usually far exceed the number of students who are accepted. In 1975 , for example, Harvard received 7620 applications for 1500 available places.
The average private college tuition in the early 1970s was $ 2161 a year. This figure was approximately four times greater than the average public-college tuition. At Harvard, tuition cost $3200 in 1973-1974. The University of Massachusetts, a publicly supported institution in the same state, charged $ 300 for a state resident. These tuition figures do not include the costs of room, food, and other everyday living expenses. Some students receive scholarship assistance and loans to help pay for the cost of their education. Many students at private and public colleges work while they are attending school, in order to pay their expenses.
Almost 1500 American colleges and universities are privately organized and financed. More than half the income of these institutions comes from student tuition payments. The rest comes from private gifts, endowment earnings, and some federal research grants, Because of steadily rising costs, many private institutions have had to raise tuition rates, reduce scholarship aid, and limit some academic programs. The poor financial condition of most private institutions is a very serious problem in the world of higher education today.
Student fees account for only 15 percent of the income of public colleges and universities. The rest comes from municipal or state and some federal government sources. Although public institutions have also experienced the problem of rising costs, they have often been able to depend on state legislators for financial support. In large part this support may be explained by the legislators’ response *o the wishes of the people who elected them and to general acceptance of the American tradition that everyone who is qualified should have the opportunity to continue his climb up the educational ladder at publicly financed institutions.
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