Land-grant university
A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890,[1] or a beneficiary under the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994.[2] There are 57 institutions which fall under the 1862 Act, 19 under the 1890 Act, and 35 under the 1994 Act.
With Southerners absent during the Civil War, Republicans in Congress set up a funding system that would allow states to modernize their weak higher educational systems. The Morrill Act of 1862 provided federal land to states to establish colleges. Ownership went to the schools which sold it to farmers. The law specified the mission of these institutions: to focus on the teaching of practical agriculture, science, military science, and engineering—although "without excluding other scientific and classical studies." [3][4] This mission was in contrast to the historic practice of existing colleges which offered a narrow curriculum based heavily on Latin, Greek and mathematics.[5]
The Morrill Act quickly stimulated the creation of new state colleges and the expansion of existing institutions to include these new mandate. In every state by 1914, the land-grant colleges gained political support and expanded the definition and scope of university curricula to include advanced research and outreach across the state. The federal Hatch Act of 1887 established an agricultural experiment station at each school to conduct original research related to the needs of improving agriculture, as well as a system to disseminate information to the farmers eager to innovate. By 1917 Congress funded the teaching of agricultural subjects in the new public high schools that were opening. The Second Morrill Act of 1890 further expanded federal funding for the land-grant colleges, and funded the founding of new land-grant colleges for African Americans (now called Historically black colleges and universities or HBCU). The 1994 expansion gave land-grant status and benefits to several tribal colleges and universities.[2] Most of the state schools were coeducational--indeed they led the way in that reform. A new department was added: home economics. However, relatively few women attended and they had second-class status.[6] [7]
Ultimately, most land-grant schools became large state universities that today offer a full spectrum of educational and research opportunities. Some land-grant colleges are private, including Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Tuskegee University.[8]
Hatch Act and Smith–Lever Act[edit]
The mission of the land-grant universities was expanded by the Hatch Act of 1887, which provided federal funds to states to establish a series of agricultural experiment stations under the direction of each state's land-grant college, as well as pass along new information, especially in the areas of soil minerals and plant growth. The outreach mission was further expanded by the Smith–Lever Act of 1914 to include cooperative extension—the sending of agents into rural areas to help bring the results of agricultural research to the end users. Beyond the original land grants, each land-grant college receives annual federal appropriations for research and extension work on the condition that those funds are matched by state funds.
Expansion[edit]
While today's land-grant universities were initially known as land-grant colleges, only a few of the more than 70 institutions that developed from the Morrill Acts retain "College" in their official names; most are universities.
The University of the District of Columbia received land-grant status in 1967 and a $7.24 million endowment (USD) in lieu of a land grant. In a 1972 Special Education Amendment, American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, Northern Marianas, and the Virgin Islands each received $3 million.
In 1994, 29 tribal colleges and universities became land-grant institutions under the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. As of 2008, 32 tribal colleges and universities have land-grant status in the U.S. Most of these colleges grant two-year degrees. Six are four-year institutions, and two offer a master's degree.
Nomenclature[edit]
Land-grant universities are not to be confused with sea grant colleges (a program instituted in 1966), space grant colleges (instituted in 1988), or sun grant colleges (instituted in 2003). In some states, the land-grant missions for agricultural research and extension have been relegated to a statewide agency of the university system rather than the original land-grant campus; an example is the Texas A&M University System. Its agricultural missions, including the agricultural college at the system's main campus, are now under the umbrella of Texas A&M AgriLife.