TARGETED PUBLIC FUNDING: THE NEXUS BETWEEN NATIONAL INTERESTS AND THE EXPANSION OF COLLEGE ENROLLMENTS

There is little mystery as to why the publicly subsidised expansion of college enrolments has been common during postwar years: popular demand that college opportunities be made more universal has motivated government officials to establish programmes promoting enrolment expansion. It should also be recognised that such programmes are often carried out to complement more comprehensive public efforts designed to meet national needs. A concentration on the most important events in the US which have contributed to the linkage of policies for national development and expansion of higher education shows that higher education is unlikely to lose its dual role as a centre of research, and as an institution open to a wide cross‐section of society. Further, most colleges and universities are so dependent on public financial support that future plans will be dependent on the policy makers.