Land-grant university
Land-grant universities (also called
land-grant colleges or
land grant institutions) are institutions of higher education in the
United States which have been designated by
Congress to receive the benefits of the
Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890.
The Morrill 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.
Iowa was the first state to accept the Morrill Act in 1862, making
Iowa State University the first university
designated as a land-grant university. The first land-grant university newly
created under the Morrill Act of 1862 was
Kansas State University, established on
February 16,
1863. The
oldest land-grant university is
Rutgers University, which was founded in
1766. The
pioneer land-grant university is
Michigan State University founded in
1855, from which all land-grant universities were ostensibly modeled.
The mission of the land-grant universities was subsequently 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),
Space Grant Colleges (instituted in 1988) or
Sun Grant Colleges (instituted in 2003). There are thirteen colleges or universities with land, sea and space designations, and two universities with all four designations (
Cornell University and
Oregon State University).
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 $7.24 million endowment (
USD), 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 $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. However, three are four-year institutions, and one offers a master's degree.
*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 land-grant universities*
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges*
State university
