III analysis of the Higher Education Act of 1965, by 4-10 Research Paper

III analysis of the Higher Education Act of 1965, by 4-10 - Research Paper Example The Higher Education Act of 1965 was a legislation which came on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement (1961-1965) and the wave of race riots spanning the same era. Protesting the inequalities and lack of freedom for advancement, the ethnic minorities in America particularly Blacks rebelled against government's system of segregation and discrimination. The Ole Miss riot of 1962, the Cambridge riots of 1963, the New York City riot of 1964, the Rochester riot of 1964, the Elizabeth riot of 1964, the Dixmoor riot of 1964, the Philadelphia riot of 1964 and the Watts riot of 1965 number a few of the spate of riots which manifest the open grievance of race minorities who were deprived of several human rights, one of which was education. Formerly, the high cost of higher education ensured that the poorer classes of Americans, among which included the Native Americans, Hispanic Americans and the African-Americans, got barred entry from scholastic institutions. These human rights encroachmen ts would retard social mobility and would keep a cross section of people uneducated and in depressed circumstances. The Higher Education Act became grafted into body of constituted laws under the U.S. Department of Education in November 8, 1965. This law represented a milestone of achievement for Americans who could not afford education beyond the secondary level. The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) rose to the occasion, even during this turbulent era, to advocate the basic right of underprivileged Americans to be schooled, regardless of color, class or creed. The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) is an organization derived from the Association of Teacher Education Institutions. The objectives of AASCU were to "to enable the members to make their influence felt in connection with national affairs, to present the strengths and services of state colleges and universities effectively to the public and to agencies and individ uals from which grants of funds might be available, to represent the members of the Association in the National Commission on Accrediting, and to conduct studies of educational problems of common interest to the members" (Hager). AASCU began its existence in 1961, established because the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) did not respond comprehensively to the needs of Americans striving to better themselves though matriculation to four year colleges and universities. The public policy pronounced the want of funding for institutions educating minorities to satisfy provisions in Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965. The policy excerpt in focus underscores the AASCU’s goal to augment appropriation levels for minority institutions serving underprivileged students. The reason requiring increase in funding is the insufficiency of the Pell grants. Although the Pell Grant pro gram started streaming funds since 1975, the financial bestowal remained consistent for over twenty five years in the face of escalating college costs. Programs such as Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP), the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program