Before the 1940’s, early American colleges and universities were primarily private and religious, and they began with the most elite students. Few Americans believed that access to college should be available to anyone who desired it. Traditionally, colleges and universities have focused on the education of young students between the ages of 18 and 22 years. The student population in higher education institutions before 1960 was dominated by white males from middle or upper class families. Higher education was preserved for only a small population. The end of World War II drastically changed the social environment of a college education. Upon entry into the war, the cost of higher education increased and the number of students attending college declined in the United States. However, student enrollment gradually began to amplify as veterans returned home. Economic development became a dominant value, and the nation was responsible for including their arriving soldier and restoring societal context of the American higher education (Adrian, 2005). The World War II GI Bill and the Korean War GI Bill became successes of twentieth century …show more content…
Many institutions struggled with the choice to expand by becoming more selective although higher education was still primarily a choice for those fortunate enough to afford it. A program that assisted with the growth of the college-going population was known as the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). It was developed by the College Board whose primary mission is to support college-going rates and reduce the barriers to access. The CLEP program was initially designed to help measure learning no matter where it was acquired and was aimed especially towards working men and women, ethnic and racial minorities, the disadvantaged, and the military (Cummings, Hayek, Hossler, Jacob, Kinzie & Palmer,