A Review of Thelin's book History of American Higher Education
Chapter 7: Gilt by Association
According to John Thelin, the golden age of higher education ranged from 1945 to 1965 and the shape of Higher Education changed significantly during this period. When viewed in terms an economist might use, the market for higher education changed significantly by experiencing a shift in both the supply and the demand curve. This shift was in large part due to the GI Bill of 1944, and the fact that institutions were in some measure prepared for the large increase in demand. They had already invested the monies necessary to build the structures, and adding students was much less costly than the initial outlay of land and construction. When universities did add classrooms they were typically Quonset huts and other temporary buildings.
The GI Bill of 1944 (more correctly entitled the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944) provided many benefits to veterans of World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt wanted a way to allow servicemen to reenter the labor market gradually, allowing factories time to retool, switching from making tanks to making tires. At the time, education was not a central concern. The education portion of the GI Bill was added on by a few legislators and the American Legion once the act was already written. After a year of debate and compromise, the final version passed by one vote in a joint conference. Oddly enough, many higher education officials did not recognize the impact of the bill, did not promote it, and while they were "willing participants" did not actively and wholeheartedly campaign for its passage.
They did participate in other ways however. Harvard and others helped to popularize the GI Bill by creating recruitment programs that encouraged overseas servicemen to attend before they returned home. They also reviewed their