The Transformation of American Higher Education

Topic: A comparison of the characteristics of students in colonial times with today’s students and how student access to higher education has changed since colonial times.

Write a 5–7 page research paper on a higher education topic of your choice. The purpose of this project is to examine the increasing access to higher education that allowed for the changing demographics of college students from colonial period to present. Since this is a short paper address 2-3 specific populations (Blacks and Hispanics) and how/when they achieved access to higher education.

Using the sources from the course (Thelin, J. R. (2011). A History of American Higher Education (2nd ed). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.) and at least five (5) scholarly journal articles, make sure your topic is relevant to higher education and trace its development through history. Your Final Project is an opportunity to explore changes that have occurred in the topic of your interest.

Make sure that your paper displays a clear transformation from earlier periods of history to later periods. You should also make clear any historical and cultural influences that have contributed to the transformation(s) of your topic. For example: curriculum has changed dramatically from a study of the classics to a vast range of academic and career-oriented programs. This topic can be traced from the colonial period to modern times, incorporating events as the Yale Report of 1828 and Harvard’s introduction of electives to meet societal demands.

The Final Project paper should be organized in the following fashion:

1. A properly formatted title page.
2. An opening paragraph that introduces the reader to the paper and includes a statement of purpose.
3. Background information on the topic that you have selected, including why it is important in the history of higher education. This section of the paper should be no more than one or two short paragraphs.
4. The body of the paper is where you discuss how the topic you have selected has changed over time. This section of the paper should be 4–6 pages. After the introduction and background, you would describe the stages of your topic. You could use headings to organize your descriptions of these stages.
5. A conclusion where you reiterate and summarize the key points of the paper. This section of the paper should be one paragraph.
6. A reference page formatted in APA style listing the sources that you cited within the main body of the paper.