B. Statistical Information

(Source: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Health, education, and welfare trends. 1960 ed. Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960.)

ENROLLMENT IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Nearly 3.3 million students were enrolled in institutions of higher education during the 1957-58 academic year.
Except for the World War II and the Korean War periods, the ratio of enrollment in institutions of higher educa-
tion per thousand population aged 18-24 has increased steadily from 66.9 in 1933-34 to 231.2 in 1957-58. About
one out of ten students in higher education is a graduate student. This proportion has remained fairly constant
in recent years after increasing substantially between 1944 and 1952.

Source: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; Office of Education; Biennial Survey of Education in the United States (1957-58 edition forthcoming) for
1930-58 data; since 1950, data have appeared in Chapter 4, Section 1, Statistics of Higher Education: Faculty, Students, and Degrees. U.S. Department of Commerce,
Bureau of the Census; Carrear Population Reports: Population Estimates, Series P-25, numbers 98, 114, 170 and 187, and special tabulations of the 18-24 age group sup-
plied to the Office of Education.
la some instances the total is slightly less than the sum of undergraduates and students, since a student may be enrolled simul-.
taneously as both an undergraduate and a graduate. 2/ For 1952 and earlier years all "special students" were tabulated as undergraduates; thereafter special students
were tabulated by level (undergraduate or graduate). 3/ Estimated.

(Source: U.S. Office of Education. Physical facilities needs of American higher education, 1961-70. In U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Education and Labor. Aid to higher education. Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Education, 87th Cong., 1st sess., 1961, pp. 17-28.)

I. FACTORS AFFECTING FACILITIES REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

THE INCREASING STUDENT LOAD

Facilities needs, like staff needs, are related specifically to enrollments, though in neither case is the relationship a direct proportion. Shifts in the proportions of resident and commuting students, of married and single students, and of graduate and undergraduate students will affect facilities needs, as will also modifications in institutional calendars, scheduling, and utilization of space. It has been pointed out that between 1959 and 1970 enrollments in higher education can be expected to increase by about 2 million full-time students. Some idea of the attendant facilities requirements may be gained by multiplying this increase by an estimated average capital investment per (additional) student; say, $6,500. The resulting total, $13 billion, represents a very rough approximation of the cost of expansion dictated solely by increased enrollments, without reference to replacement and renovation costs, or to the cost of special facilities and equipment needed for instruction or research, all of which might easily add another $6 billion. More refined methods will be used to estimate this cost more accurately and to determine the additional facilities costs which should be included.

SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT AND SPACE REQUIREMENTS

The need to accommodate increasing numbers of students accounts for only a part of the upsurge in physical facilities requirements. The provision of special kinds of space and equipment appropriate to particular instructional functions represents a growing burden on the colleges and universities, many of which will need to replace makeshift arrangements they have had to use even in some areas of graduate instruction and research. Proper facilities for graduate level programs, it should be noted, are generally more costly than for undergraduate.

New developments in both subject matter and methods of teaching are continuously generating new needs for physical facilities. The increasing emphasis on foreign language study, for example, will require the construction of language laboratories for the application of new learning techniques. Particularly expensive space and equipment are required in the physical sciences, where knowledge of established subjects is expanding rapidly, and where whole new fields of study are evolving. The purchase and installation of a nuclear reactor today represents an investment of funds greater than would have been spent for a whole scientific establishment a half century ago.

Much attention is being focused also on new media of instruction and on new techniques in the use of special media, such as television and audiovisual devices. While these developments hold some hope for savings in instructional costs, a point we shall discuss later, we must consider also the requirements that such use could generate for specially constructed facilities.

Medical and dental training facilities are currently being utilized to capacity, but the number of physicians and dentists graduating yearly is not sufficient to maintain current standards of service to our increasing population. To maintain a satisfactory population-physician ratio of 757 to 1, the output of physicians would have to expand to 9,600 in 1970, or 2,100 over the 1960 output. It has been estimated that between 14 and 20 new medical schools will have to be built if the existing population-physician ratio is to be upheld. The financial cost involved here is great since the construction of a medical school requires a capital investment of between $10 and $20 million, depending on whether a teaching hospital is already available or must be included in the investment. The factor of urgency also enters into the consideration inasmuch as there is a lag of 10 years between the planning of a school and the production of the school's first graduating class.

Contributing further to the need for medical training facilities is the need for dental schools. According to projections of trends in the supply, the number of dentists in practice in 1975 will total only 96,000, which is about 15,000 fewer than will be needed to assure that dentists will be as widely available as now. To forestall such a shortage will require by 1970 facilities capable of graduating 6,180 dentists annually. This is about 2,700 more per year than are now in prospect, and will require a 75-percent increase in training capacity.