20 
A Study of Student Loans and 
of free public education began to take root and gradually the leaders of 
America came face to face with the question of school support. The first 
moves toward state support of higher education came in the form of land 
grants and later taxation. This was in fact a duplicate of what took 
place in England, presumably due to English influences. These sources, 
however, were only a Supplement to religious and private support and 
were at all times surpassed by the latter. This predominance of private 
support has persisted even to the present day (as the figures in the fol- 
lowing chapter show), if we view higher education in the United States 
as a whole. 
Early National Period—(1776-1825) 
The close of the Colonial period and opening of the early National 
period in the United States, marks the beginning of the states taking a hand 
in the initiating and in the support of higher education. The break with 
England naturally cut off the sources of support from the mother country 
and caused the leaders in the United States to take the matter in their own 
hands. This was only in so far as financial support was concerned, for 
there was no special break in the main forces that had been building up 
Colleges in the Colonies. The difference came in an expansion in the num- 
ber of Colleges and in the educational aim and type of studies. 
The turmoil of the revolution and financial reconstruction of the new 
nation caused state support of higher education to slump and during the 
latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth Century the 
question of the state’s function in higher education was much discussed. 
The doctrine that it was the duty of the state to advance knowledge through 
higher education and thus make better citizens spread and led to the 
establishment of several state universities and Colleges supported by the 
appropriation of state funds. 
The Present Period—(1865-1925)—And the New Purpose 
After 1865 the United States entered upon a period of vast expansion 
both in state and private institutions of higher learning. Large fortunes 
had been accumulated by this time and many donated a large proportion 
of their wealth in the form of unconditional gifts or gifts for specific 
purposes to institutions of higher learning already in existence. New 
institutions, such as Johns Hopkins and Leland-Stanford Universities, 
were founded upon a single gift. 
A new development appeared in higher education during this period. 
The Student demanded an education not only to increase his intellectual 
powers and thereby gain social or political preferment, but also asked for