The Morrill Act: Land-Grant College

First, free college may not benefit those most in need. As Matt Bruenig, a writer who researches poverty and welfare systems, in his article “The Case Against Free College” argued, “The main problem with free college is that most students come from disproportionately well-off background and already enjoy disproportionately well-off futures, which makes them relatively uncoupling targets for public transfers…At public colleges, students from the poorest fourth of the population currently pay net tuition at either two-year or four-year institutions….Richer students currently receive much fewer tuition and living grant benefits”(113). Free college should benefit poorer students, but actually could end up helping wealthy students more. Low income

The House Bill 904, also known as The In-State Tuition/Some N.C. Immigrant Youth Act was introduced during the same week of “Immigrants Right Day” and the “Time Is Now” Rally was held in Washington, D.C. The rally, were thousands of immigrants and their families, friends, and activists gathered in support for Immigration Reform.

When was it? Maybe more than one hundred years ago when Abraham Lincoln was president. I believe he is one of the most influential American of all the time. His presidency created popularity of America’s education around the world also reaffirming our government system, democracy, thanks to those known as democracy colleges which Ellison explained in his argument. “Abraham Lincoln signed the Land Grant College Act into law, laying the ground work for the largest system of publicly funded universities in the world,” (Ellison, para

Any American including freed slaves could claim a land up to 160 acres for free if they worked on the land for 5 years (Doc. B). What this meant for the Native Americans was that they now have less land to hunt on so they are resorted to the reservations. Forty-eight million acres were given away. In 1872 there was an advertisement on the Homestead Act showing millions of acres in Iowa and Nebraska (Doc. E). Also in 1862, the Morrill Land-Grant Act was created to allow the creation of land-grant colleges in the US (Doc. C). It was a huge uplift to higher education in

Affirmative action in college admissions continues to be heatedly debated. In 2003, the Supreme Court had ruled in Grutter v. Bollinger that diversity was a compelling interest for colleges to use race in admissions. In the amicus brief that the American Sociological Association et al. provided to the Supreme Court, sociological evidence was presented to elucidate the value of affirmative action. Yet in 2006, Proposal 2 was passed in Michigan to ban affirmative action in public education (Levitsky). Based on the information in the amicus brief, the correlation between race and socioeconomic status of the minorities, and the negative effects of banning affirmative action, admissions officers at the University of Michigan should consider

The Morrill Act has made a positive change in our society by improving the education system and molding our education system to better help the people of our country and the country itself. The Morrill Act gave each state 30,000 acres for every representative it had.

In 1862, the Land-Grant College Act or Morrill Act was signed into being; it supplied the land for educational facilities that would focus on “agriculture and mechanic arts” and provide military training as part of the education. The act was named after Justin Smith Morrill, a congressman from Vermont, and would grant “each state 30,000 acres for each of its congressional seats.” The states could sell off the granted land to fund schools, both new and pre-existing. The Morrill Act provided the foundation for many colleges such as the University of Georgia ("Land-Grant Colleges").

College is the next stepping stone to better or advance ones social standing in life, whether it is moving from a blue collar lifestyle to white collar, or to continue to further their career path. However, it comes with an “unavoidable result.” Alfred Lubrano discusses this “unavoidable result” in his text “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts.” Lubrano discusses the topic of how furthering ones education opens more possibilities but at the same time distances those held most dearly. He explains that the more knowledge gained, the bigger the gap caused between friends and family due to differences in levels of knowledge. That distance is greatly increase if one comes from a poorer region where blue collar workers are the social

Oil could be considered liquid gold in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Many people flocked to oil rich places to make money, but few truly had a big break. All the new businesses that came with it made higher demand for many goods and services.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Land Grant College Act into law. This Act, also known as the Morrill Act, was named after U.S. Representative Justin Smith Morrill from Vermont, who first introduced the bill. The Land Grant College Act laid the groundwork for a system that funded public universities around the country. Because of this Act, states were able to provide funding to universities as a result of the sale of the federal land that was given to these states . This transformation allowed higher education to be more available and affordable to all social classes.

4. The Morrill Act was an Act that gave land to the United States to help with things such as Colleges that had to do with Agriculture.

The Morrill Act of 1862 also known as the land grant act was designed to provide access to public higher education. The act was finally passed by President Abraham Lincoln on

The first state to adopt a law allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities was Texas. This law is so-called “The Dream Act.” To qualify for this act an immigrant student must have graduated high school or received a GED in Texas, must live in the state for three years, and sign an affidavit confirming that they are seeking legal residency. According to the Education Commission of the States, since 2001, Washington, Utah, Oklahoma, New York, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois, and California have adopted similar laws. Some conservative Texas legislators have filed to repeal The Dream Act. Their opinion is that it is unfair to legal U.S. citizens from other states that are required to pay out-of-state tuition. This act also requires taxpayers to pay higher education costs for undocumented immigrants. Others argue that many come to America through no choice because their parents illegally came to the country. They believe it is unfair to punish the students for their parents’ decisions. Bills that have tried to take away the Texas Dream Act have failed thus far. ("Tribpedia: Dream Act | The Texas Tribune." The Texas Tribune. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2015.)1

BILL: ‘‘Affordable College Textbook Act’’ Bill: S.2176 — 114th Congress (2015-2016). A Bill used to expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve higher savings for students and help those who cannot pay for their books. The sponsor is Senator Durbin, Richard [D-IL] (Introduced 10/08/2015) By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. FRANKEN, and Mr. KING: The Committees are Senate - Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The Latest Action is on 10/08/2015 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (Text of measure as introduced: CR S7276-7277). OPEN TEXTBOOK: —The term ‘‘open textbook’’ means an open educational resource or the set of open educational resources that either is a textbook or can be used in place of a textbook for a post-secondary course at an institution of higher education. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Affordable College Textbook Act’’. “Affordable College Textbook act of S.2176- 114 Congress (2015-2016) was introduced on 10/08/2015 by Senator Durbin, Richard, assistant Democratic leader and was committed from Senate-Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The latest action was on 10/ 08/2015, read twice and referred to be committee on health, education, labor and pension. Text measure as introduced by CR S7276-7277, which later officially re-titles as a bill to expand the use of open textbooks in order to achieve savings for students.

With the possibility of World War III looming over the world’s head and domestic unrest, federally paid tuition should not become a topic of discussion in a political debate. Evidently, prepaid college is a big topic. Can the citizens of America live with their consciences if they were to accept such an irrational national expense? The United States Federal Government should not pay for the first two years of college for all U.S. Citizens. The U.S. Government does not comprehend the idea of cash flow, but they do understand that the Federal Reserve is there to back up all of the expenses that they acquire. This act would basically add two more years in high school; thus, adding more chances for the national dropout rate to soar even higher. School systems are not the business of the Federal Government; there are bigger issues that must be dealt with before subsidizing tuition.