Student Enrollment Changes 1941-61


THE GI BILL OF RIGHTS

(some of this section have been extracted from the American Legion Magazine)

Beginning with Abraham Lincoln's determination to care for the widows and wounded of the civil war, Congress and the Federal Government have provided benefits for its veteran's. However, the "GI Bill of Rights" was unique in many important aspects. To begin with, administration of the program was centralized in one agency, the Veterans Administration, a political and management event not to be underestimated. The immediate requirement was to provide mustering-out pay, i.e., cash for disabled veterans who were being released with scarcely a cent. Under pressure from The American Legion and others, this effort evolved into a momentous act, which included:

· Educational opportunities
· Vocational and on-the-job training
· Readjustment allowances
· Loan guarantees to help veterans buy homes, farms or small businesses
· Adequate hospitalization
· Prompt settlement of claims
· Mustering-out pay
· Effective employment or placement service
· Concentration of all veterans functions in the VA, and priority in hiring personnel it needed to function.

THE ACT THAT CHANGED AMERICA

No law has had more of an impact on the fabric of America than the GI bill. When astronaut Neil A. Armstrong set foot upon the moon in 1969, his "great leap for mankind" was made possible by a single law: The GI Bill of Rights. If that sounds extravagant, consider the education of the engineers, the technicians, the myriad trades people who made the epochal journey possible. Considerer, too, that in the 40 years that have passed, 18.2 million veterans have gained $59 billion worth of education and training, in every field from electrical engineering to plumbing, auto mechanics and truck driving.

Indeed, The GI Bill's educational provisions have made America what it is today. Not only has a sizable percentage of the millions of men and women who have served in the nation's armed forces since 1941 been able to gain higher education-including the teachers of other millions-but the GI Bill also has effected a significant improvement in the quality of education available throughout our society. Before WWll, a college education was beyond the means of the great majority of Americans; today, thanks to the GI Bill and other measures passed in the meantime, a college education is by no means rare.

The article goes to on to describe other the benefits that have derived from the Act, e.g., the purchase, by millions of ex-GIs, homes, farms and small businesses and its general effect on the economy as a whole plus the added extra impact of expenditures of over $4 billion for construction and renovation of hospital and other facilities. The remainder of the article covers the impact of other benefits and effects, leading to the conclusions that this was "the most significant piece of social legislation ever passed by the Congress" and still stands as a model of enlightened social legislation to every other nation in the world.

The citizens of the State of Oregon and its educational institutions, particularly Oregon State University, have surely been amongst the principle beneficiaries. So have most of us who got our start at OSC in the ASTP.

Analysis and Conclusions

Given the above statistics and background, it does not take a genius or a great leap of faith to conclude that, indeed, the ASTP students and those ex-GIs who attended OSC under the benefits of the GI Bill, had a strong and positive impact on the growth of OSU, both in the curriculum and coverage, as well as the number of students. The primary purpose of this display and analysis is to remind the current faculty and student body of this great educational institution, as well as the taxpayers of Oregon, of how much it present strength and relevance can be traced to these events now fading into history.

The final section of this article provides two examples of how some ASTPers returned to Oregon to became leading citizens and how others, building on the ASTP experience and using the benefits of the GI Bill, did the same throughout the nation. Given the time that has passed, it was unfortunately not possible to obtain testimonies from faculty who lived through this period but its impact is self-evident.

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