The Origins of State-Level Differences in the Public Provision of Higher Education: 1890-1940

In recent years, the publicly controlled sector has accounted for about 67 percent of all students in four-year institutions of higher education, whereas in 1897 the figure was only 22 percent.' The transition was early and swift, however, for on the eve of the United States' entry into World War II almost 50 percent of all students were in public-sector institutions. Thus, by 1940 more than 60 percent of the century-long expansion in public-sector enrollments (four-year) had already taken place. The relative rise of public higher education occurred decades before the rapid postwar acceleration of college enrollments and is apparent even without including community colleges. Differences across states in public-sector enrollments and in public support for higher education were considerable in the past but narrowed markedly after 1950. In 1929, enrollments in publicly controlled institutions averaged 6 per 1,000 residents in the Mountain