An Overview
Diversity,Access,
United States:
of Higher Education
in the
American Council on Education
The Unifying Voice for Higher Education
and the
Role of the
Marketplace
By Peter D. Eckel
and Jacqueline E. King
American Council on Education
ACE and the American Council on Education are registered marks of the American Council
on Education.
American Council on Education
One Dupont Circle NW
Washington, DC 20036
®
This publication originally appeared as a chapter in J. Forest and P. Altbach (Eds.),
The International Handbook of Higher Education (two volumes), published by Springer.
Available at http://www.springeronline.com.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
The Distinctive Characteristics of U.S. Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Size and Composition of U.S. Higher Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Curriculum and Degrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Faculty and Their Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
University Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Student Life and Athletics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Current Challenges Confronting U.S. Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Marketplace (Not Government) as Key External Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Higher Education as an Engine of Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Other Current Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table of Contents
higher education borrows its structure from both the British
undergraduate college and German research university, but its
character is profoundly influenced by three major philosophical
beliefs that shape American public life.1 Informed by the Jeffersonian ideals of limited
government and freedom of expression, states, religious communities, and individuals
established and maintain a range of higher education institutions and continue to protect
these institutions from the levels of government control seen in most other countries.
The second set of influences is capitalism and the belief in the rationality of markets.
American colleges and universities vie for students, faculty, and funding under the
assumption that diversity and high quality are best achieved through competition rather
than centralized planning. The final major philosophical influence on American higher
education is a widespread commitment to equal opportunity and social mobility. Higher
education was an elite activity for much of its history, excluding individuals based on
gender, religion, race/ethnicity, and social class. However, during the 20th century,
economic and social changes transformed higher education into a primary gateway to the
middle-class, and women and minorities made inroads against longstanding exclusion
from mainstream higher education. Americans came to view broad access to higher
education as a necessary component of the nation’s ideal as a “land of opportunity.”
Higher education responded by broadening access. Indeed, the one uniquely American
type of institution—the community college—was founded in the 20th century to ensure
open access to higher education for individuals of all ages, preparation levels, and incomes.
Guided by these beliefs, U.S. higher education reflects essential elements of the
American character: independence, suspicion of government, ambition, inclusiveness,
and competitiveness. This publication describes the major characteristics of American
higher education and important issues that challenge it, linking back as appropriate to
these essential philosophical underpinnings.
A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l o n E d u c a t i o n i i i
Introduction
1 In the United States, several important terms differ in meaning from most of the rest of the world. The term college refers to an institution that typically
awards only undergraduate degrees. The term faculty can refer either to an individual professor or to all instructors (e.g., “The Harvard faculty approved
a new degree program.”)
U.S.
A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l o n E d u c a t i o n 1
ecause American higher educa-
tion is so diverse and complex,
any description of “standard
practice” inevitably misstates
much about individual colleges
and universities. Indeed, important
exceptions to most of the characteristics
described in this paper exist. Nonetheless,
this section provides an overview of how
most colleges and universities are governed
and financed, their students and faculty,
and the nature of the curriculum and
student life.
Size and Composition of
U.S. Higher Education
In addition to diversity, autonomy, com-
petition, and accessibility, size is a distin-
guishing feature of U.S. higher education.
The U.S. Department of Education counts
6,500 postsecondary institutions that
participate in its student financial aid
programs, including 4,200 colleges and
universities that award degrees and 2,300
institutions that award vocational certifi-
cates. These 6,500 institutions enrolled
approximately 16 million full- and part-
time students, including 14 million under-
graduates and 2 million graduate and
professional students, in fall 2001. The
4,200 colleges and universities awarded
more than 2.4 million degrees in academic
year 2000–01. In addition, an untold
number of other institutions offer
post-secondary instruction of some type
but do not choose to participate in the
The Distinctive Characteristics of
U.S. Higher Education
B federal student aid programs and thereforeare not counted by the federal government(U.S. Department of Education, 2003).Degree-granting institutions are typically divided into four major groups,
and a considerable amount of diversity
exists within each group:
• America’s 1,100 public two-year insti-
tutions, or community colleges, enroll
the largest share of undergraduates
(6 million students in 2001). These
institutions award associate degrees in
vocational fields, prepare students for
transfer to four-year institutions, and
serve their communities by providing a
wide array of educational services.
These services range from specialized
training for large employers, to English
language instruction for recent immi-
grants, to recreational courses. Almost
4 million students attended community
colleges part-time in 2001. The U.S.
government does not track enrollment
figures for noncredit adult education or
recreational courses, but the American
Association of Community Colleges
estimates that an additional 5 million
students enroll in these types of courses
at community colleges every year.
• There are only 630 public four-year
colleges and universities in the United
States. But these institutions—which
include regional comprehensive
universities that concentrate on under-
graduate teaching and graduate
preparation in professional fields such
2 A N O V E R V I E W O F H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S
as teaching and business, as well as
research universities that offer a
comprehensive set of undergraduate,
graduate, and professional degree
programs—enrolled 6.2 million
students in 2001. This figure includes
5 million undergraduates and slightly
more than 1 million graduate students.2
• Private not-for-profit institutions are
extremely diverse, including research
universities, four-year liberal arts
colleges that focus on undergraduate
teaching, a small number of two-year
institutions, faith-based institutions
that maintain strong links with
religious denominations, women’s
colleges, historically black colleges
and universities, and specialized
institutions that focus on a single field,
such as nursing or fine arts. Private
not-for-profit institutions enrolled
3.2 million students in 2001, including
2.3 million undergraduates and more
than 700,000 graduate students.
• For-profit institutions primarily offer
vocational programs that result in
certificates rather than degrees. Of the
more than 2,400 for-profit institutions
counted by the U.S. Department of
Education, 500 offer two-year associate
degrees and 320 offer bachelor’s
and/or graduate degrees. In total,
for-profit institutions enrolled more
than 750,000 students in 2001, all
but 50,000 of whom were at the
undergraduate level.
Table 1 provides an overview of enroll-
ment in each of these four sectors. This
large number and wide range of institu-
tions offer both access and choice—two
hallmarks of American higher education
that respond to the previously described
value placed on opportunity and faith in
the market.
Table 1. U.S. Postsecondary Institutions and Enrollments: Fall 2001
Public Private Private Total
Not-for-Profit For-Profit
Institutions 2,099 1,941 2,418 6,458
Four-Year 629 1,567 324 2,520
Two-Year 1,165 269 779 2,213
Less than Two-Year 305 105 1,315 1,725
Enrollment 12,370,079 3,198,354 765,701 16,334,134
Four-Year 6,236,486 3,120,472 321,468 9,678,426
Two-Year 6,047,445 63,207 241,617 6,352,269
Less than Two-Year 86,148 14,675 202,616 303,439
2 The number of graduate and undergraduate students does not add to the total number of students because some students may take courses outside a
formal degree program and, in other cases, the degree level of students was not reported.
A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l o n E d u c a t i o n 3
Governance
Another of the philosophical underpin-
nings of U.S. higher education is the
Jeffersonian notion of limited and,
whenever possible, locally controlled
government. Based on this model, the
U.S. Constitution reserves for the states
all government functions not specifically
described as federal. Among those func-
tions is education. As a result, each of the
50 states is responsible for governing
public colleges and universities (which
enroll 75 percent of students), rather than
the federal government. The degree of
control by the states varies tremendously.
Some institutions, such as the University
of California and the University of
Michigan, enjoy constitutional autonomy
as separate branches of state government.
At the other extreme, locally elected
boards of trustees govern some commu-
nity colleges. In some states, a governing
board appointed by the governor and/or
legislature oversees all institutions, setting
funding levels, establishing accountability
measures, setting policies, and approving
new academic programs. In others, the
state board plays only an advisory function
and has little direct authority over institu-
tions. In many others, a state agency is
poised between the institutions and state
government, implementing statewide
policy but also attempting to insulate
institutions from ill-advised or overly
intrusive state policies.
Some public universities are part
of statewide multi-campus systems in
which an additional layer of oversight
exists between the campus and state
government. System administrators may
oversee campus budgets, set policies
such as admissions standards, coordinate
degree programs, and facilitate credit
transfer and articulation between the
state’s public colleges and universities.
Additionally, and importantly, they
advocate to the legislature on behalf of
public colleges and universities. In some
states, more than one multi-campus
system exists, such as California’s distinct
systems of community colleges, compre-
hensive state colleges and universities,
and research universities.
Because the Constitution does not
mention education as a federal responsi-
bility, the federal government plays a lim-
ited role and the United States has never
had an education ministry, such as those
found in most other countries. With the
important exception of the Morrill Land
Grant Act of 1862, which donated federal
territory to the states for the establish-
ment of public universities, the federal gov-
ernment played almost no role in higher
education until the middle of the 20th
century, when World War II necessitated
the establishment of federal funding for
scientific research at colleges and univer-
sities to build U.S. military capacity. In
1944, President Franklin Roosevelt signed
the G.I. Bill of Rights, which granted
returning veterans funding to attend col-
lege as a way to integrate servicemen back
into the U.S. workforce. As the civil rights
movement took hold in the 1960s, the fed-
eral role in supporting students expanded
to include grant and loan programs for
low- and moderate-income students. Since
that time, federal support has expanded so
that it is now the primary financier of both
scientific research and student financial
aid.
While the federal government
generally does not provide direct
operational support to colleges and uni-
versities, this special-purpose funding is
an extremely important revenue source
and, in turn, has increased the ability of
the federal government to influence
colleges and universities in areas outside
research and financial aid. For example, in
order for institutions to participate in the
4 A N O V E R V I E W O F H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S
financial aid programs, they must comply
with a wide range of federal reporting
requirements on topics ranging from
teacher preparation to gender equity in
intercollegiate athletics. However, despite
the growing influence of the federal gov-
ernment, its role is still limited and has
not yet intruded into core academic
decisions, which are generally left to the
institutions and, in the case of some
public institutions, the states.
Two sets of voluntary organizations act
as bulwarks against excessive government
control of higher education: accrediting
organizations that monitor quality assur-
ance, and membership associations that
represent institutions to the federal and
state governments. Accrediting organiza-
tions are membership organizations of
colleges and universities and rely on
volunteers who work at colleges and
universities and who agree to assist other
institutions by providing evaluation
through peer review. There are three
types of accrediting organizations: region-
al organizations, which review the quality
of entire institutions and focus almost
exclusively on public and private not-for-
profit degree-granting institutions;
national organizations, which monitor the
quality of most for-profit and non–degree-
granting institutions; and specialized
accrediting organizations, which evaluate
academic programs within a specific field
such as medicine, law, or teacher education.
American accreditation differs from
the type of quality assurance conducted
by governments in most other countries.
Federal and state governments can and do
impose their own accountability require-
ments on institutions, but they generally
have left the assessment of academic
quality to institutions themselves through
the self-study and peer review processes of
accreditation. The federal government, in
particular, relies on recognized regional
and national accreditation organizations
to determine whether institutions are of
sufficient academic quality and manage-
rial soundness to merit inclusion in the
federal student financial aid programs.
When the U.S. Department of Education
officially recognizes an accrediting organi-
zation, it certifies that the organization
adequately monitors quality in areas
mandated by the federal government, such
as fiscal soundness and managerial compe-
tence, fair admissions and recruiting prac-
tices, and evidence of student success.
Accrediting organizations establish
minimum standards that institutions must
meet in a range of areas such as the curri-
cula, faculty qualifications, student learning
outcomes, co-curricular student services,
and financial health. Accrediting organi-
zations do not, however, mandate how
institutions go about meeting those stan-
dards. Further, because accreditation
measures institutions against a set of
standards, it generally does not provide
a gauge of how well an institution is
performing relative to other institutions.
Accreditation is accomplished through
institutional self-study and a peer review
process to determine whether the institu-
tion has met the organization’s standards.
Accreditors typically review institutions
on a three- to five-year basis (Eaton, 2000).
Membership associations, which can
have either institutions or individuals
(such as business officers) as members,
represent the interests of colleges and
universities to the federal government
and, in some cases, state governments.
Many colleges and universities also
employ their own staff to advocate for
them, but in most cases, those staff work
only on issues of concern to the individual
institution, such as state appropriations or
federal research contracts for the institu-
tion. Membership associations champion
those public policies that are in the
A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l o n E d u c a t i o n 5
collective best interest of either all or some
major segment of higher education. In
Washington, DC, colleges and universities
are represented by hundreds of organiza-
tions, which also provide networking and
professional development opportunities
for their members.
Finance
Colleges and universities are financed in
ways consistent with both the Jeffersonian
ideal of limited government and the belief
that market competition tends to improve
quality and efficiency. While government
plays a very important role in financing,
American colleges and universities are
supported further by diverse revenue
sources that reflect the market choices
of students and parents as well as other
consumers of the goods and services that
institutions provide. The major sources of
revenue include tuition and fee payments
from students and families (including the
government-backed financial aid that
students use to pay tuition); appropria-
tions, grants, and contracts from federal,
state, and local governments; private gifts;
endowment and other investment earn-
ings; and sales from auxiliary enterprises
and services.
Some of these sources are more
important to some types of institutions
than to others. For example, local govern-
ments account for 18 percent of revenue at
community colleges but 1 percent of
revenue at private not-for-profit institu-
tions. Similarly, private gifts contribute
14 percent of revenue to private not-for-
profit institutions, but only 1 percent
of revenue to community colleges (U.S.
Department of Education, 2003). While
the revenue sources of American institu-
tions are diverse, two sources are of part-
icular importance to most institutions:
state appropriations, particularly for
public institutions; and tuition and fees.
These two sources (along with local app-
ropriations at community colleges and
federal research grants and contracts at
research universities) provide the bulk of
funds for
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