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Higher education in the United States refers to colleges and universities within the United States. Cutting-edge research and large budgetary funds have helped make American colleges and universities among the world's most prestigious. According to the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's world ranking of universities, more than 30 higher education institutions among the world's top 45, are from the United States.^[1] According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1995 alone, U.S. universities granted 2,142 licenses and options to license patented technology, most of them exclusive; 169 start-up companies were formed in 1995 (more than 1,100 from 1980-95), for which such exclusive patents were the key. The licensing of university-research spin-offs adds more than 150,000 jobs to the U.S. economy each year.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Classification 3 Types of institutions 3.1 Colleges and universities 3.2 Community colleges 3.3 Graduate Programs 4 Admissions 4.1 Process 4.2 Rankings 4.2.1 2007 movement 5 Finances 6 Government coordination 6.1 Examples 7 See also 8 References 9 Notes 10 External links

The American university system, like the primary and secondary education system, is largely decentralized, in large part because the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reserves all powers not granted to the federal government or explicitly denied to the U.S. states "for the States respectively, or to the people." Except for the United States service academies and staff colleges, the federal government does not directly regulate universities, although it can give federal grants to them. Such a degree of autonomy in higher education is rare.

American universities have developed independent accreditation agencies to vouch for the quality of the degrees they offer. The accreditation agencies rate universities and colleges on criteria such as the quality of their libraries, the publishing records of their faculty, and the degrees which their faculty hold. Nonaccredited institutions are perceived as lacking in quality and rigor, and may be termed diploma mills.

Colleges and universities in the U.S. vary in terms of goals: some may emphasize a vocational, business, engineering, or technical curriculum while others may emphasize a liberal arts curriculum. Many combine some or all of the above.

Two-year colleges (often but not always community colleges) usually offer the associate's degree (A.A.), while four-year colleges offer the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees. These are usually primarily undergraduate institutions, although some might have limited programs at the graduate level. Universities provide both undergraduate and graduate education. Graduate programs grant a variety of master's degrees—such as the Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Science (M.S.), Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), or Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)—in additional to doctorates such as the Ph.D. Some universities have professional schools, which are attended primarily by those who plan to be practioners instead of academics (scholars/researchers). Examples include journalism school, business school, medical schools (which usually award the M.D.), law schools (J.D.), veterinary schools (D.V.M.), or dental schools.

Four-year institutions in the U.S. which emphasize the liberal arts are liberal arts colleges. These colleges traditionally emphasize interactive instruction (although research is still a component of these institutions). They are known for being residential and for having smaller enrollment, class size, and teacher-student ratios than universities. These colleges also encourage a high level of teacher-student interaction at the center of which are classes taught by full-time faculty rather than graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), who do teach classes at Research I and other universities. Most are private, although there are public liberal arts colleges. In addition, some offer experimental curricula, such as Pitzer College, Sarah Lawrence College, Bennington College, New College of Florida, and Reed College.

Public and private universities are research-oriented institutions which include service both an undergraduate and graduate student body. United States military academies and staff colleges are the only public universities in the U.S. that are operated by the federal government. Aside from the military institutions, community colleges, and tribal colleges operated on Indian reservations by some federally recognized tribes, all other public universities are operated by the states and territories, usually as part of a state university system. Each state supports at least one state university, and several support many more. California, for example, has three public higher education systems: the 11-campus University of California, the 23-campus California State University, and the 109-campus California Community Colleges System. Public universities often have a large student body, with introductory classes numbering in the hundreds and some undergraduate classes are taught by graduate student teaching assistants (TAs).

The majority of both liberal arts colleges and public universities may be either coeducational; the number of women's colleges and men's colleges has dwingled in past years and nearly all remaining single-sex institutions are private liberal arts colleges. There are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), both private (such as Morehouse College and public (such as Florida A&M).

Among private schools, some are secular while others are involved in religious education. Some are non-denominational and some affiliated with a certain sect or church, such as Roman Catholicism (with different institutions often sponsored by certain religious orders, such as the Jesuits), Lutheranism, or Mormonism. Seminaries are private institutions for those preparing to become members of the clergy. Most private schools (like all public schools) are non-profit, although some are for-profit.

In the United States, there is no legal definition of the term "university".^{[citation needed]} The usual practice in the United States today is to call an institution made up of undergraduate students a "college".^{[citation needed]} This can be a two-year community college, which grants an AA or a four-year college, such as a liberal arts college, which grants a B.A. or B.S. An institution comprising both undergraduate and graduate students (and often several schools) is called a university. Some schools such as Boston College, Dartmouth College, and College of William and Mary, which offer a number of graduate programs, have retained the term "college" in their names for historical reasons. Similarly, some institutions granting few if any graduate degrees, such as Wesleyan University, may be called universities for historical reasons. Another criterion used to distinguish between a college and a university in the United States is the balance of teaching and research that occurs in the institution. Colleges have historically focused on teaching and universities on scholarship and research.^{[citation needed]}

The Carnegie Basic Classification system distinguishes among institutions on the basis of the prevalence of degrees they grant. As the names of their categories indicate, the Carnegie Foundation considers the granting of master's degrees necessary, though not sufficient, for an institution to be classified as a university.^[2]

In the United States, there are a variety of different types of colleges and universities. One type is the four-year institution. Four-year colleges and universities in America allow students to start and complete their entire education before earning a bachelor's degree. Generally speaking, four-year institutions are larger in size, student population, and offer a greater diversity of studies.

In addition, the majority of four-year institutions in the United States are accredited. American accredited colleges and universities have been recognized by an accrediting agency as meeting certain academic standards for quality and educational environment. Additionally, American accredited colleges and universities are periodically examined to ensure that they are meeting certain quality standards. There are both private and public universities and colleges.

In addition to four-year American accredited colleges and universities, students also have the option to attend community colleges in the U.S.A. Community colleges and two-year programs are popular among some students for a variety of reasons, which typically include smaller class sizes, less expensive tuition costs, as well as the ability to easily transfer to four-year colleges and universities in America.

While there are distinct advantages to community colleges, there are also various drawbacks to consider as well. Before enrolling in this type of school, it is important that the student weigh the benefits and drawbacks of doing so, and learn all that they can about community colleges. There is a historic connotation that community colleges are often considered the schools of last resort, because of their open-admissions policies, which some feel hurts their reputation.^[3]

To allow students to continue their higher education in an area they enjoy, several colleges and universities in America offer graduate programs. There are a variety of benefits to completing graduate programs, including the opportunity to enhance a skill set in a particular area, develop new skills for a potential career change, as well as to increase job prospects in one's current field.

See also: List of American institutions of higher education

Main article: College admissions in the United States

Students can apply to some colleges using the Common Application. There is no limit to the number of colleges or universities to which a student may apply, though an application must be submitted for each. With a few exceptions, most undergraduate colleges and universities maintain the policy that students are to be admitted to (or rejected from) the entire college, not to a particular department or major (This is unlike college admissions in many European countries, as well as graduate admissions). Some students, rather than being rejected, are "wait-listed" for a particular college and may be admitted if another student who was admitted decides not to attend the college or university.

Two well known college and university rankings guides offer annual issues which rank colleges and universities. They are the U.S. News and World Report [2] and The Washington Monthly's "College Rankings" issue.[3]

Main article: Criticism of college and university rankings (2007 United States)

On 19 June, 2007, during the annual meeting of the Annapolis Group, members discussed the letter to college presidents asking them not to participate in the "reputation survey" section of the U.S. News and World Report survey (this section comprises 25% of the ranking). As a result, "a majority of the approximately 80 presidents at the meeting said that they did not intend to participate in the U.S. News reputational rankings in the future." ^[4] However, the decision to fill out the reputational survey or not will be left up to each individual college as: "the Annapolis Group is not a legislative body and any decision about participating in the US News rankings rests with the individual institutions." ^[5] The statement also said that its members "have agreed to participate in the development of an alternative common format that presents information about their colleges for students and their families to use in the college search process." ^[6] This database will be web based and developed in conjunction with higher education organizations including the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Council of Independent Colleges.

On 22 June 2007, U.S. News and World Report editor Robert Morse issued a response in which he argued, "in terms of the peer assessment survey, we at U.S. News firmly believe the survey has significant value because it allows us to measure the "intangibles" of a college that we can't measure through statistical data. Plus, the reputation of a school can help get that all-important first job and plays a key part in which grad school someone will be able to get into. The peer survey is by nature subjective, but the technique of asking industry leaders to rate their competitors is a commonly accepted practice. The results from the peer survey also can act to level the playing field between private and public colleges." ^[7]In reference to the alternative database discussed by the Annapolis Group, Morse also argued, "It's important to point out that the Annapolis Group's stated goal of presenting college data in a common format has been tried before [...] U.S. News has been supplying this exact college information for many years already. And it appears that NAICU will be doing it with significantly less comparability and functionality. U.S. News first collects all these data (using an agreed-upon set of definitions from the Common Data Set). Then we post the data on our website in easily accessible, comparable tables. In other words, the Annapolis Group and the others in the NAICU initiative actually are following the lead of U.S. News." ^[8]

With the exception of the federal service academies, tuition is charged at almost all American universities. There are five schools that, if one can get in - and admission is highly competitive - the tuition is free:

The Cooper Union, in NYC.
The Curtis Institute of Music, in Philadelphia
Olin College, in Massachusetts
Webb Institute, in New York
The Yale School of Music, in New Haven - part of Yale University

The Cooper Union only offers art, architecture and engineering. Olin is only engineering. Webb is only naval architecture and marine engineering. Curtis and Yale are both music. And although tuition itself is covered by the university, there will be various fees involved.

Students often use scholarships, student loans, or grants, rather than paying all tuition out-of-pocket. Public universities receive funding from individual states, and residents of the state that supports the university typically pay much lower tuition than non-residents.

Most universities, public and private, have endowments. A January 2007 report by the National Association of College and University Business Officers revealed that the top 765 U.S. colleges and universities had a combined $340 billion in endowment assets as of 2006. Harvard University's endowment is the largest of any educational institution at $29 billion. ^[9]

Richard Vedder, an Ohio University professor and member of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, has been a vocal critic of how institutions of higher education are financed. In his 2004 book, "Going Broke by Degree," Vedder says that tuition increases have rapidly outpaced inflation; that productivity in higher education has fallen or remained stagnant; and that third-party tuition payments from government or private sources have insulated students from bearing the full cost of their education, allowing costs to rise more rapidly.^[10]

Every state has an entity designed to promote coordination and collaboration between higher education institutions.

• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
• Alabama Commission on Higher Education
• Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board
• The Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education

• Carnegie Basic Classification
• Claremont Colleges
• College admissions in the United States
• Education in the United States
• Five Colleges (Massachusetts)
• Five Colleges of Ohio
• Historically black colleges and universities
• Liberal arts colleges in the United States
• Little Ivies
• Ivy League
• Men's colleges in the United States
• Public Ivy
• Seven Sister Colleges
• Seven Sisters of the South
• Women's colleges in the United States

• Christopher Avery; Andrew Fairbanks, Richard Zeckhauser (2004). The Early Admissions Game: Joining the Elite. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01620-3. 
• Howard Greene; Mathew W. Greene (2000). Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning: The Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-095362-4. 
• Loren Pope (2006). Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will change The Way You Think About College. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-303736-6. 
• Jacques Steinberg. The Gatekeepers. New York: Penguin Group, 2002.
• Compiled and Edited by the Staff of the Yale Daily News (2007). The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, 2008 (34th edition). New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN-13: 978-0-312-36689-6. 
• United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006-2007). Occupational Outlook Handbook. 

• Guide to U.S. schools for international students
• How To Choose a College That's Right For You - from NPR