Diversity Delivers
By BURTON BOLLAG
The United States is home to diverse types of higher education institutions to fit every academic and career goal.
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Above right: Brown University, a private research university in Rhode Island, has a 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio and 69 percent of its classes have fewer than 20 students. Right: The central campus of Princeton University, a private research university in New Jersey, consists of approximately 9.5 million square feet of space in more than 200 buildings.
32 EDITION 2 2023
Private universities
Chris Rycroft/Courtesy Wikipedia
are generally smaller than public universities, often with smaller classes, and tend to be more expensive. Some of the most wellknown universities in the United States, like Harvard, Yale, Brown and Princeton, are in this category. In addition to receiving donations and student tuition payments, these institutions have endowments—fortunes that are carefully invested and produce interest income for the university every year.
Princeton University, Office of Communications
ne of the strengths of American higher education is the variety of universities and colleges. There are public and private institutions, very large and very small, secular and religiously affiliated institutions. There is also great diversity in settings—the institutions are based in urban, suburban or rural locations. According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are 3,931 degree-granting higher education institutions in the United States. Public institutions have the largest enrolment rates since they tend to be larger than private institutions. Private schools are not funded by the government, but by donations, endowments and tuition payments. Nearly three quarters of private institutions are nonprofit. The majority of colleges and universities offer four-year undergraduate degree programs. Universities also offer graduate and Ph.D. programs. Community colleges offer two-year programs, which are less theoretical and more career-oriented.
Brown University brown.edu
Princeton University princeton.edu