Page 27 - Crisis in Higher Education

2 • Crisis in Higher Education

capabilities and quantity. In a short time, it dramatically improved both,
becoming the “arsenal of democracy.”
In 1944, a grateful nation passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
better known as the G.I. Bill, which provided a series of benefits to World
War II veterans, including cash payments for tuition and living expenses
to attend institutions of higher learning. By 1956, roughly 2.2 million vet-
erans used this benefit, which is still in place today. In 1964, the leading
3,4
edge of the baby boomers graduated from high school and sought col-
lege degrees in record numbers. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed
the Higher Education Act that provided massive federal support for stu-
dents through tuition grants, guaranteed student loans, and work-study
funds. As a result, institutions of higher learning benefited from decades
5
of growth—enrolling just over 2 million in the early 1950s, 13 million in
6,7
1987, and more than 21 million in 2010. By 2015, 33% of the U.S. adult
population held a bachelor’s degree or higher. 2
This background information is important because it provides a con-
text for understanding higher education. During this time, it was com-
mon for institutions, especially public colleges and universities supported
by state and local tuition subsidies, to double in size and double again in
response to:

1. Pent-up demand from nearly 16 years of the Great Depression and
World War II
2. Recognition that higher education is needed to advance science,
technology, and business
3. Veterans taking advantage of the G.I. Bill
4. Baby boomers seeing the value of higher education and demanding it
5. Low out-of-pocket costs for tuition, as a result of federal, state, and
local subsidies.

During this rapid growth phase, the concern of higher education leaders
tended not to be about planning, cost control, and workforce productiv-
ity, on which for-profit manufacturing and services firms focused intently.
These resource management concepts took a backseat to concerns about
meeting what appeared to be an insatiable demand for quality programs.
Faced with these circumstances, most organization would have acted simi-
larly. If customer after customer bought a Tahiti vacation and did not ask
the price, why would the travel agent be concerned about keeping costs low?
Higher education was heavily subsidized, so out-of-pocket costs were low.