The Strength to Meet Which National Need? The American Council on Education, Federal Support for Student Aid, and Equal Educational Opportunity

ABSTRACT President Truman asked the 1947 Commission on Higher Education to consider ways to expand educational opportunities to all Americans. The commission responded in Volume II of HEAD, a progressive document that recommended substantial federal support for higher education, particularly in the form of student aid. The American Council on Education (ACE) represented higher education in the commission’s deliberations and had a powerful role in shaping education policy development between 1947 and 1972. Its position on federal funding for student aid was shaped by institutional autonomy, institutional diversity, and a weakening relationship between higher education and national goals, which made it difficult to navigate tensions between quantity and quality and between consumer and associational accountability. Ultimately, while the ACE played a central role in shaping Volume II, it did not lobby effectively for federal student aid funding for 25 years after its publication. The result was expanded access in a modern system that has fallen short of the progressive promise of the Truman commission.