land-grant university

Land-grant universities (also called land-grant colleges or land grant institutions) are American institutions which have been designated by Congress to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. These acts funded educational institutions by granting federally-controlled land to the states. The mission of these institutions, as set forth in the 1862 Act, is to teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanic arts, not to the exclusion of classical studies, so that members of the working classes might obtain a practical college education. The mission of the land grant universities was 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. Land-grant universities are not to be confused with Sea Grant Colleges (a program instituted in 1966) or Space Grant Colleges (instituted in 1988). There are six colleges or universities that have all three designations.

History

The universities were initially known as land-grant colleges. Today, only a small handful of the seventy some institutions which evolved from the Morrill Acts still have "College" in their official names. The University of the District of Columbia received land grant status and a US$ 7.24 million endowment, in lieu of a land grant, in 1967. In a 1972 Special Education Amendment, American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, Northern Marianas, and the Virgin Islands each received US$ 3 million. In 1994, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium also received land grant status, and 29 additional land grant colleges were created under the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act. Most of these are two-year technical schools, but three are four-year institutions, and one offers a master's degree.

Relevant legislation

The Morrill Act of 1862
The Hatch Act of 1887
The second Morrill Act of 1890
The Adams Act - 1906
The Nelson Act - 1907
The Smith-Lever Act of 1914
Chapter 79 - May 8, 1914
The Smith-Hughes Act - 1917
The Parnell Act - 1925
The Copper-Ketcham Act - 1928
The Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935
The Bankhead-Flannegan Act - 1945
The Research Marketing Act - 1946
Amendment to Smith-Lever Act - 1953, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1968
Amended Hatch Act - 1955
The McIntire-Stennis Act - 1962
The Research Facilities Act - 1965
Public Law 89-106 - 1965
The National Sea Grant College and Program Act - 1966
The Rural Development Act - 1972
The Food and Agriculture Act - 1977
The National Agricultural Research Extension and Teaching Act - Title XIV - 1977
The Resource Extension Act - 1978
Amendment to Title XIV - 1981
The Agriculture and Food Act - 1981
Amendment to Title XIV of Food Security Act - 1985
1994 Native Indian Legislation

List of designated institutions

See Category:Land-grant_universities The following university pages are land-grant universities but have yet to be created: