过220万退伍军人能够进入大学学习。
《退伍军人权利法》对社会的影响，可以说是革命性的。正如学者米尔顿·格林伯格（Milton
Greenberg）所说：“今天，美国大学大都公立化，高度侧重于职业、技术和科学教育等领域，规模庞大，以城市为中心，并高度民主。”
在随后的几十年里，高等院校发展迅速，退伍军人的子女也跟随其后，即所谓的婴儿潮一代，他们于20世纪60年代开始进入大学。
高等院校也开始向少数族裔和女性敞开大门。近些年，就读高校的女性超过男性，并且比男性获得更多的学士学位和硕士学位——根据全国教育统计中心的统计，这一模式并没有改变的迹象。
少数族裔学生就读大学的比例也在增加——从1981年的14%上升为2005年的27%。这种变化主要归因于不断增长的拉美裔和亚裔学生人数。同一时期，非裔美国人的大学入学率从9%上升到12%。
费用与竞争
在美国，高等教育是一个巨大的部门，支出将近3,730亿美元，消耗美国国内生产总值的近3%。大学学费可能很高昂，尤其是不能从州政府或联邦政府获得一般性补贴的私立学校。为了确保所有人都得到接受教育的平等机会，美国为学生设立了庞大的金融补助计划。每十个学生中有七个接受某种形式的资助，通常包括赠款、贷款以及工作机会，以便让全日制学生能够支付生活费和学费。
最近，美国一些最富有、最知名的大学——哈佛大学、普林斯顿大学、耶鲁大学、哥伦比亚大学和达特茅斯学院等——宣布了将大幅提高对中低收入家庭的资助的计划。
学生们为了进入美国名牌高校而展开竞争。与此同时，各类美国高等教育机构也必须广泛开展竞争，以争取美国最优秀的学生并招收足够的学生以维持其规模。美国最负盛名的大学（包括公立和私立学校）的一个录取名额会有数百人申请。同时，大多数成绩优异而且大学入学考试考分高的中学毕业生也会从高等院校收到数百封邀约信。
州政府可以批准设立高等教育机构，但承认高校学术地位的认证则由非政府组织发放，不由州或联邦政府经手。这体现了美国教育分权化的特点。
在得克萨斯州圣马科斯市（San Marcos），丰田（Toyata）奖学金得主面露微笑。
社区学院
对于一名学习成绩平平而且财力有限的美国高中毕业生来说，到社区学院就读比上四年制高校可能更可行。
美国大约有1,200所社区学院，其中大部分提供健康、商业和计算机技术等日益发展的专业领域的两年制大专学位课程。
社区学院也是需要用比较强的大学学分来提升自己普普通通的高中成绩的学生进入四年制本科大学的一个途径。
由于社区学院学费低廉、入学政策灵活，目前有超过1100万美国学生和大约10万国际学生就读于这类学院。
传统黑人大学
传统黑人大学（Historically Black Colleges and
Universities，HBCU）大多创立于奴隶制度或种族隔离政策在南方盛行的时期，当时在其他地方，非裔美国人的高等教育不是被忽视就是被边缘化。第一所非裔美国人院校，即现在的宾夕法尼亚州切尼大学（Cheney
University of
Pennsylvania）创立于1837年，但现今最有声望的很多黑人学校均创立于南北战争之后，其中包括田纳西州纳什维尔市的菲斯克大学（Fisk
University in Nashville,Tennessee）、华盛顿特区的霍华德大学（Howard University in
Washington, D.C.）以及佐治亚州亚特兰大市的莫尔豪斯学院（Morehouse College in Atlanta,
Georgia）。
19所传统黑人公立大学随着1890年通过第二个莫里尔法案（Second Morrill
Act，赠地法案）而创立，许多位于当时严格实行种族隔离的南方。
今天，白宫传统黑人大学计划（White House Initiative on
HBCUs）涵盖40所四年制公立大学、50所四年制私立学院和13所两年制社区学院及商业学校。
赴美留学
长期以来，外国学生始终是美国高等教育中一个为人熟知的、至关重要的组成部分。根据《门户开放报告》（Open
Doors），在2006-2007学年，有近583,000名国际学生在美国4,000所高校中的许多学校注册入学，比前一年增加了3%。印度仍然是外国学生的最大单一来源国，其次是中国、韩国和日本。
国际学生的五大研读领域是商业与管理、工程学、物理与生命科学、社会科学以及数学与计算机科学。
国际学生就读美国高校的原因与美国人一样：学术的卓越性、学术机构及学术课程无可比拟的选择性、课程安排乃至在不同学术机构间转学的极大的灵活性。
由于学费和生活费在不同院校之间差异很大，再加上有机会获得经济资助，外国学生会发现美国教育也是可以负担得起的。大部分大型学校都有国际学生顾问和一个遍布全球的学生咨询中心网络以及各种各样的出版物，能为未来的新生在寻找学校、申请学校和被美国学校录取这个有时很复杂的过程中提供指导。
Read more:
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/chinese/publication/2013/10/20131007284119.html#ixzz2mIBJJ1Sv
Changing Face of Higher Education
Many young adults receive higher education in the United
States
09 September 2008
North Carolina State University classroom with veterans in the
1950s
(The following text is excerpted from the U.S. Department of State
publication
USA Education in Brief.)
A greater proportion of young people receive higher education in
the United States than in any other country. These students also
can choose from more than 4,000 very different institutions. They
can attend two-year community colleges or more specialized
technical training institutes. Traditional four-year institutions
range from small liberal arts colleges to massive state
universities in places like California, Arizona, Ohio, and New
York, each with multiple campuses and student populations exceeding
30,000. Approximately one- third of U.S. colleges and universities
are private and generally charge tuition costs substantially higher
than state-run public institutions.
G.I. Bill
For much of their history, American institutions of higher learning
remained bastions of privilege, with a predominantly white, male
population. That pattern didn’t change significantly until passage
of the G.I. Bill in 1944, when the federal government paid for
millions of World War II veterans to attend college. (G.I., which
stands for “government issue,” became a casual term for any Army
soldier in World War II.)
The G.I. Bill of Rights included subsidies for attending virtually
any recognized institution of higher learning, as well as payments
for vocational training and subsidies to encourage home ownership.
Congress didn’t expect many to take advantage of the college
provision, but within two years more than 1 million veterans were
enrolled at the nation’s colleges and universities, doubling the
number of college students. Over a seven-year period, the G.I. Bill
enabled more than 2.2 million veterans to attend college.
The social impact of the G.I. Bill has been little short of
revolutionary. As scholar Milton Greenberg points out, “Today,
American universities are now overwhelmingly public, focused
heavily on occupational, technical, and scientific education, huge,
urban-oriented, and highly democratic.”
In subsequent decades, colleges and universities grew rapidly, as
veterans were followed by their children, the so-called baby boom
generation that began entering college in the 1960s.
Colleges and universities also began opening their doors wider to
minorities and women. In recent years, more women than men have
been attending colleges and universities and earning more
bachelor’s and master’s degrees – a pattern that shows no signs of
changing, according to the National Center for Education
Statistics.
The proportion of minority students attending college has increased
as well – from 14 percent in 1981 to 27 percent in 2005. Much of
the change can be attributed to growing numbers of Hispanic and
Asian students. African American enrollments rose from 9 percent to
12 percent in the same period.
Costs and Competition
Higher education in the United States is an enormous enterprise,
costing almost $373 billion and consuming nearly 3 percent of the
nation’s gross domestic product. College costs for students can be
high, especially for private institutions, which do not receive
general subsidies from either state or federal governments. To
ensure equal access to education for all, the United States
administers an extensive financial aid program for students. Seven
out of 10 students receive some form of financial aid, which
typically combines grants, loans, and work opportunities to enable
full-time students to meet their living costs and tuition.
Recently, several of the nation’s wealthiest and most prestigious
universities – schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, and
Dartmouth, among others – announced plans to substantially increase
their financial aid for low- and middle- income families.
Students compete for openings in the nation’s better colleges and
universities. At the same time, American institutions of higher
learning of all types must broadly compete for the nation’s top
students and to admit sufficient numbers to maintain their
enrollments. The most prestigious American universities – public
and private – receive hundreds of applications for each opening. At
the same time, it is true that most secondary school graduates with
good grades and strong scores on college entrance exams receive
hundreds of solicitations from institutions of higher
learning.
Smiling Toyota scholarship winner in San Marcos, Texas.
Reflecting the decentralized nature of American education, state
governments may license institutions of higher learning, but
accreditation, which grants academic standing to the college or
university, is accorded by nongovernmental associations, not by
states or the federal government. Community Colleges
For an American high school graduate with a modest academic record
and limited funds, enrolling in a community college may be a better
option than attending a four-year college or university.
Two-year, associate-degree programs in such growing professional
fields as health, business, and computer technology can be found at
most of the nation’s roughly 1,200 community colleges.
Community colleges are also gateways to four-year undergraduate
institutions for students who need to bolster mediocre high school
grades with stronger college credits.
Taking advantage of low fees and liberal admissions policies, more
than 11 million American and an estimated 100,000 international
students now attend community colleges.
HBCUs
Most Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were
founded at times when either slavery or segregation ruled the
South, and higher education for African Americans elsewhere was
ignored or marginalized. Although the first college for African
Americans – now Cheney University of Pennsylvania – was established
in 1837, many of today’s most prestigious black schools were
established immediately after the Civil War, including Fisk
University in Nashville, Tennessee; Howard University in
Washington, D.C.; and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nineteen public HBCUs were founded with passage of the Second
Morrill (Land Grant) Act in 1890 – many in the then firmly
segregated South.
Today the White House Initiative on HBCUs counts 40 four-year
public colleges and universities, 50 four-year private colleges,
and 13 two-year community and business schools.
Study in the United States
Foreign students have long been a familiar and vital element of
American higher education. In the 2006-2007 academic year,
according to the publication Open Doors, almost 583,000
international students were enrolled in many of America’s 4,000
colleges and universities, an increase of 3 percent over the
previous year. India remains the largest single source of foreign
students, followed by China, Korea, and Japan.
The top five areas of study for international students are business
and management, engineering, physical and life sciences, social
sciences, and mathematics and computer science.
International students attend U.S. colleges and institutions for
the same reasons that Americans do: academic excellence,
unparalleled choices in types of institutions and academic
programs, and great flexibility in designing courses of study and
even in transferring between different institutions.
With a wide range of tuition and living costs, plus opportunities
for financial aid, foreign students find that a U.S. education can
be affordable as well. Most large schools have international
student advisers, and a worldwide network of student-advising
centers, along with a variety of publications, can guide
prospective students through the sometimes complicated process of
finding, applying, and being accepted by an American college or
university.
Read more:
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2008/09/20080912010648eaifas0.4965631.html#ixzz2mIBNEzdw
