Expansion (1945 - 1965)
Commission on Higher Education
By the 1960s ... it was generally accepted that large and diverse parts of the population were capable of some college work.
Rupert Wilkinson
"Plural Ends, Contested Means: Student Financial Aid in American History"
President Harry Truman appointed the Commission on Higher Education, which drew attention to the problem of unequal access to colleges and universities. In 1947, the Commission issued its report Higher Education for American Democracy: A Report of the President's Commission on Higher Education.
The Commission's report called for an expansion of higher education institutions so as to accommodate a larger percentage of the college-age population. The report argued that half of the population was intellectually capable of completing two years of higher education and approximately 30% could earn a bachelor's degree. It stated that external barriers rather than ability limited access to higher education for most people.
The Report identified three limitations on access to higher education: financial limitations due to the cost of higher education, unequal geographic distribution of educational opportunities, and limited curricular options at most colleges. The Commission's report also exposed discrimination against minorities, especially blacks and Jews, as a barrier to higher education for these populations.
The Commission on Higher Education generally advanced the position that higher education should be more widely available to all people. According to the Commission, education was a social good and should be distributed widely. Thus, eliminating the barriers to higher education for all people was consistent with American democracy. To facilitate this, the Commission proposed that the federal government should fund higher education so that it was affordable to more people.
