Hannah Myslak, age 16, of White Plains, N.Y., for her question:
WHEN WERE THE LAND GRANT COLLEGES ESTABLISHED?
Land grant colleges are institutions of higher education that were established in the United States under the provisions of the Morrill Acts (also known as Land Grant Acts) of 1862 and 1980.
On July 2, 1862, a land grant bill was introduced in the Congress by a representative from Vermont named Justin Smith Morrill. The bill was then signed by President Abraham Lincoln.
This law authorized the granting to each state of 30,000 acres of public land for each senator and each representative of the state in Congress at that time. The measure stipulated that the new revenue from these lands be used for "the endowment, support and maintenance of at least one college where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanic arts ... in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life."
In some cases the lands thus acquired by each state were subsequently sold and the revenues from the sales were invested in securities. The money realized on these securities has been devoted to the support of land grant institutions.
The second Morrill Act, ratified on August 30, 1890, provided for an initial federal appropriation to eachland grant state of $15,000 per year, with an automatic increment of $1,000 a year for the next 10 years. Under an amendment, approved in 1907, the cumulative total of $25,000 allotted by the second Morrill Act to each land grant state was increased to $50,000.
Additional help was provided by the Hatch Act, passed in 1887, which established annual funds for agricultural experiment stations to be operated by the land grant schools.
Less than 10 percent of the total income of land grant colleges is derived at present from the federal government, the remainder being raised by the respective states. Most state agricultural and engineering schools were established under the Morrill Acts. Among these institutions are the state universities of California, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia Wisconsin and Wyoming; Iowa State University of Science and Technology; and Purdue University.
Cornell University is a privately controlled land grant institution. Although land grant institutions amount to only about three percent of all U.S. institutions of higher education, their enrollment represents more than 20 percent of all U.S. four year college students.
Most land grant colleges still offer regular programs in agriculture and engineering, but they have developed into broad based universities offering curricula in most areas.