Changes

By 1900, there were less than 1000 colleges and universities in the United States. Most never had more than 1000 students. After 1900, education training began to be seen as a major need throughout the country. Already in the 1830s there were schools focused on education training but after 1900 they began to be increasingly integrated with colleges and universities. This led to growth in colleges providing training for teachers. Many of these education-focused colleges developed between 1900-1930, with other subjects in engineering and sciences also expanding in colleges and universities. The 1930s Great Depression became a turning point for many colleges. Many of the state colleges depended on state legislatures to provide funding, while also keeping tuition very cheap. As legislative funding dried, many schools, even elite private schools such a Northwestern University, began to struggle. Some universities, such as Indiana, responded by becoming more focus on entrepreneurship in their education offerings, helping them to found new studies and disciplinesincluding in business and industry. Others began to now increasingly depend on tuition to fund their activities. Some colleges and universities were now charging over $200 dollars for tuition, which was about a 650% increase from 1860s levels. This kept enrollment somewhat low but helped diversify college funding.<ref>For more on how higher education increased in the early 20th century and the role the Great Depression had in shaping colleges and universities, including tuition, see: Brubacher, J. S., & Rudy, W. (1997). Higher education in transition: a history of American colleges and universities (4th ed). New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A: Transaction Publishers, pg. 380. </ref>

The next key phase was the passing of the GI Bill, which provided an opportunity for every veteran to seek college education after the war. This meant that millions would be eligible for a college education. The Cold War also emphasized the need for scientific development, leading to increased funding for educationand scientific disciplines in particular. This now led to another expansion in colleges throughout the United States. The Higher Education Act in 1965 now also created a federally backed system of low-interest loans to finance education, enabling most social classes now to participate in higher education. The 1960s also saw further expansion in college education through Lyndon Johnson's Great Society measures and programmes that helped expand and increase education for vocational training and professional training such as in dentistry. The beginnings of the community colleges, with open enrollment, began to develop and became well established by the 1970s. Colleges now were firmly part of the government's attempts for enabling social mobility among all the country's classes. By the late 20th century, for-profit universities began to emerge as a new phenomenon due to increased low-interest lending given that enabled higher rates of higher education participation.<ref>For more on how the post-World War II colleges and universities developed, see: Hinton-Smith, T. (2013). <i>Widening participation in higher education: casting the net wide</i>? Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York: Palgrave Macmillan. </ref>