Higher Education:

 An Unprecedented Opportunity

However much the housing, business loan, job training, and unemployment benefits shaped the course of American life in the postwar decades, the GI Bill today is best remembered for the access it afforded to higher education. As stated by the political scientist Milton Greenberg, himself a World War II veteran and GI Bill beneficiary, "It is the college and university educational provisions that endure as the symbol and romance of the GI Bill." More than 2.2 million WWII veterans accepted the government's offer of a free college or graduate education, accounting at one point for half of all enrollments nationwide and 70 percent of all male enrollments.

Why did so many veterans decide to enroll in higher education? Some had interrupted their schooling to serve in the military and would have returned to it even without federal assistance. But the GI Bill also extended the opportunity for advanced education to men and women who previously had not planned to attend. Approximately five out of every six student-veterans were among the first members of their families to go to college. For them, especially, financial aid was likely a key consideration.

By enrolling in an approved, full-time program, each veteran received a cost-of-living allowance of $60 per month, later raised to $90, with additional payments for families. In addition, the 1944 GI Bill paid such expenses as tuition, fees, books, and supplies, up to $500 annually. Costs at even the most expensive colleges and universities seldom exceeded $300 a year, so veterans from all backgrounds had unprecedented freedom to choose institutions best suited to their interests and ambitions. Because the duration of subsidies was tied to length of military service, payments could last for up to 48 months. When calculated against the nine-month academic calendar, the payment schedule allowed some veterans to earn not only a bachelor's diploma but also a graduate or professional degree.


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Credit: Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries.

"Our GI Joes" brochure.

NC State alumnus James C. Aldrich (Class of 1940) helped prepare this publication while serving as a communications and education officer for the 362 Fighter Squadron, 357 Fighter Group in England and Germany. Compiled just five months after the GI Bill had been signed into law, the booklet analyzed the educational attainment levels and vocational interests of the enlisted men and officers of Army Air Force Station F-373. Fewer than a third of the men at the A.A.F. Station believed they would go back to school, even though a full two-thirds of them wanted to do so.


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Credit: Government Documents, NCSU Libraries.

Veterans Administration pamphlet, 1946.


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Credit: Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries.

"Before I was released from the navy, I decided to take advantage of the G. I. Bill of Rights and further my education in college. I wanted to raise my social status and to mark out a definite social role for myself which would prove beneficial to me and my country. September of 1946 found me attending classes at North Carolina State College, enrolled in Forest Management.

"I was caught up in the spirit of college life and enjoyed myself to the utmost. I studied [hard too], for college demanded it."

– Excerpted from an autobiographical essay written by Acie Carlton Edwards for Professor James Wyche Green's course, Rural Sociology 201, in December 1949.

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Credit: Agromeck, 1950.

Acie Carlton Edwards.

 

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Credit: Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries.

"I am thankful for my experiences in the Navy, because they have helped me to see and understand how the other people of the world live, and had it not been for the G. I. Bill I would not have been able to attend college. I truly think that a term in the service would be good for everyone."

– Excerpted from an autobiographical essay written by Joe Sanford Hinshaw for Rural Sociology 201, in December 1949.

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Credit: Agromeck, 1951.

Joe Sanford Hinshaw.

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Credit: Agromeck, 1947.

Professor M.E. Gardner.

During World War II, NC State Horticulture Professor Monroe Evans Gardner corresponded with a number of his former students. Gerald Maynard, a sergeant in the 162 Signal Photo Company stationed in London, and Paul Bannerman, a navy ensign who served in the Pacific, expressed both enthusiasm and hesitation about returning to college. Both did come back.

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Credit: Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries.

Letter from Gerald Maynard to Professor Gardner, May 24, 1944.

"Mr. Gardner, this is something that I have been thinking about most seriously and would appreciate very much your advice very much on the subject and that is, should I plan to finish my regular courses in school or should I take some specialized training for work? It seems to me that the period has been rather long for one to adjust himself again or very easily to school life."

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Credit: Agromeck, 1946.

Gerald Maynard, 1946.

 

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Credit: Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries.

Letter from Paul Bannerman to Professor Gardner, January 8, 1945.

"I've had my eye on those G. I. benefits that Jim Francis is taking advantage of for a long time. I'm planning to get married as soon as I get back to the good old U.S.A., so I'll need something like that to help along."

 

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Credit: Agromeck, 1947.

Paul Bannerman, 1947.

 

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