PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION BEYOND THE HIGH SCHOOL

White House Conference on Education

In April 1956, as one result of the White House Conference on Education in 1955, the president created a thirty-three-member committee to study the problems of higher education. The committee examined four problems: the demand for post-high-school education now and in the next fifteen years; the resources to meet this demand; the proposals made for modification and improvement; and the appropriate relationships of the federal government to education beyond the high school.

Interim Report

The committee presented an interim report in November 1956 that called attention to the need for (1) state-by-state surveys of future enrollments, necessary facilities, and staff along with probable costs; (2) a definite federal policy on aid to education beyond the high school; (3) expansion of sources for financial support; (4) a broader ranger of post-high-school educational opportunities; and (5) "many more able and qualified teachers than present efforts can provide,"

Final Report

A final report, prepared in August 1957, called for emphasis on recruiting teachers, creation of a work-study program, incometax deductions for college expenses, and long-range goal planning for college budgets, and long-range planning for college facilities. It concluded that in order to get the best, the government must support the best.