Colonial Colleges And The Rise Of Higher Education In The United States

Higher education in the United States has a complex history. One trend that has been able to grow and adapt to the changes in higher education has been the idea of residence life. History shows that residential colleges have long been a part of the higher education, with their roots being traced all the way back to Islamic origins but were “made famous by Oxford and Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Harvard and Yale in the United States” (Penven, Stephens, Shushok, & Keith, 2013, p. 116). The U.S. Census Bureau (2000) now estimates that “more than 2 million college students live in on-campus resident halls each year” (as cited in Willoughby, Carroll, Marshall, & Clark, 2009, p. 22). The remainder of this paper will look at how the history of residence halls and residence life and grown and changed throughout the different eras during the course of higher education in the United States.

Colonial Colleges and the Rise of Higher Education This history of higher education in the United States all started with the establishment of Harvard College in 1636. This era would last till 1789. When Harvard and the other colonial colleges began, their initial goal was to provide education for local clergymen (Cohen &

88). The original colleges that were established in the colonies were done with the intent to serve the local communities (Sheffield, 2016b, p. 35). As time went on, more and more students from outside the communities were admitted to the Colonial colleges. These students were often forced to travel long distances to attend these colleges (Willoughby et al., 2009, p. 23; Sheffield, 2016b, p. 35). These small communities did not have adequate amounts of housing to meet the needs of these incoming students so universities needed to develop housing options out of necessity (Willoughby et al., 2009, p. 23; Sheffield, 2016b, p.