#8220;separate but equal” facilities, it encouraged the foundation of black colleges. (This practice was ended by the Supreme Court decision that declared “ separate but equal” schools to be unconstitutional.) Acts in 1847 and 1914 appropriated funds to the land-grant colleges to promote the development of scientific methods of agriculture.The influence of the land-grant colleges on American higher education has been formidable. In recent years almost one-fifth of all students seeking degrees in the United States were enrolled in land-grant institutions. Pioneering research in physics, medicine, agricultural science, and other fields has been done at land-grant colleges. Because their admissions policies were more open than most other institutions of the day, land-grant schools made it possible for women, working-class students, and students from remote areas to obtain undergraduate and professional education at low cost. Today, all states and Puerto Rico received federal grants to help support land-grant universities.The educational value of the land-grant idea has been priceless. As a result of this program, old colleges have been able to expand, and new colleges have been created...
