Series VI: Studies in Higher Education, 1959-1981
- Highlight
- and its successor organization the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education (since 1973
- Abstract Or Scope
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By 1966 the Foundation's future was uncertain, and there was a discussion about its possible merger into Carnegie Corporation of New York. The trustees of both organizations decided that it was important to have foundation devoted exclusively to higher education, provided that it could undertake a truly significant project. Thus, the CFAT trustees made a proposal to the Carnegie Corporation for a grant to study the financing of higher education, approved in January 1967. Clark Kerr - then the president of the University of California - agreed to chair the special commission. The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education consisted of 19 people including the chairman. Over the course of their existence, the Commission and its successor organization the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education (since 1973) assembled a wealth of data and published 163 influential monographs, and dozens of pamphlets and brochures. One of the Carnegie Commission's lasting achievements was a classification scheme that differentiated colleges and universities along the dimensions that were most relevant to the Commission's analytical work. The classification, made public in 1973, was quickly accepted in the research community as the major way researchers identify groups of roughly comparable institutions. The Carnegie Corporation of New York made annual grants to the CFAT starting in 1967 to cover the expenses of the project. Additional information can be found in the CCNY Records, such as CCNY grant files to the CFAT (CCNY Records, series III.A).