In my judgment, every schoolboy and schoolgirl, every parent, every teacher, every citizen is indebted to the statesmanship of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in this important field of Federal aid to education.

I am greatly indebted to him because he has never varied from his determination to try to carry out to the maximum extent that political practicalities make possible, the President's announced program of Federal aid to education. With that sincere and deserved introduction, the chairman calls upon Secretary Ribicoff to proceed as our first witness, to present the administration's case for a higher education bill. STATEMENT OF HON. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF, SECRETARY OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE; ACCOMPANIED BY WILBUR J. COHEN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY (FOR LEGISLATION) OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE; STERLING M. MCMURRIN, COMMISSIONER, OFFICE OF EDUCATION; AND RALPH C. FLYNT, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER AND DIRECTOR, LEGISLATION AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT BRANCH, OFFICE OF EDUCATION

Secretary RIBICOFF. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for your gracious remarks and for the courtesy and cooperation I have received on all these educational matters from you and all the members of the committee.

I am accompanied here by, on my right, Mr. Wilbur Cohen, Assistant Secretary; Dr. Sterling McMurrin, Commissioner of Education, and Dr. Ralph Flynt.

I listened with interest to your preliminary remarks, Mr. Chairman, and what you have said and what you inserted in the record, and before beginning my formal testimony I would like to make a short comment on what you said, because it contains a better argument than anyone can possibly make on the need for this bill.

When you called attention to what the Soviet Union is achieving in these many scientific discoveries, we ought to keep this in mind; today we, in this country, take for granted that our bright people are going to get along. We see Johnny growing up, and we say, "Johnny is a bright boy; you don't have to worry about Johnny; he will get along."

And then maybe Johnny gets along or maybe he does not; maybe he loses interest; maybe his talents are not used; maybe he cannot afford to go to college.

What does the Soviet Union do? They scout every bright young man in the Soviet Union. They see a bright boy at 10 or 12, and they will say, instead of, "Don't worry about Johnny, he will get along," they say, "Now, that Ivan is a smart boy; he is going to make a good physicist; he is going to make a mathematician; he is going to make a doctor; he is going to make a teacher," and they bring to bear, and they nurture each and every one of these young men to make sure that the bright young men are not taken for granted and go upon the ash heap.

Your preliminary remarks, Mr. Chairman, is the argument, is the one argument, why this bill is necessary, because I do not think in

America we can afford to let the bright young men go by the wayside. The world competition is too great, and we have to save every bright young man for himself, and to make sure that he will contribute his great talents and his brains for not only his own benefit but for the benefit of his Nation and the free world.

I had not intended to say that, but as I listened to this, this came to mind, and it is not a formal part of my testimony.

Senator MORSE. We are very glad to have that addition to your prepared statement.

Secretary RIBICOFF. I am pleased to accept your invitation to testify today in support of S. 1241, the College Academic Facilities and Scholarship Act. The importance of this measure is attested to by the fact that the distinguished chairman of the full committee, Senator Hill, and of the Subcommittee on Education, Senator Morse, along with 12 other Senators, have sponsored this bill.

S. 1241, referred to as the higher education bill, is one of the three key parts of the education program which President Kennedy has recommended. Your subcommittee has held extensive public hearings on the other two bills. In numerous executive sessions you have worked out proposed legislation which is of vital importance to our Nation. The school assistance bill you reported out has already passed the Senate. The National Defense Education Act amendments which you recently reported out are awaiting Senate action.

May I express my admiration for the continued support and hard work members of this committee have given in legislation relating to Federal aid to education? Aid to education is important; it is incumbent upon our Nation to utilize the skills and knowledge of every boy and girl; it is essential that the Congress enact a program of aid to education this year. I pledge you my full cooperation to assist you in any way I can to make education legislation a reality this year. President Kennedy has described as the "twin goals" of American education:

A new standard of excellence *** and the availability of such excellence to all who are willing and able to pursue it.

This

The United States faces a great challenge in the field of higher education. College enrollments are expected to rise by more than 1 million in the next 5 years, an increase of about 30 percent. so-called tidal wave of students that has already inundated our elementary and secondary schools is fast approaching the gates of the Nation's institutions of higher education. These gates should not become floodgates, holding back the flow of eager young people who aspire to self-fulfillment and whose abilities the Nation so badly needs. Rather, they should be opened wide to these young people, so that our Nation can convert the challenge of growing numbers into one of the most impressive educational achievements in this Nation's long history of dedication to higher education.

This will require great effort on the part of all citizens. It requires, in addition to increased local, State, and private effort, immediate action by all the people, through their Federal Government. The specific actions called for are assistance to colleges and universities to help them accommodate larger numbers of students without diminishing the quality of instruction and assistance to

able but needy youth who might otherwise fail to achieve the fullest development of their intellectual abilities.

Too often discussion of proposals for Federal assistance to institutions of higher education starts from the assumption that such Federal assistance would be a departure from traditional policy and would involve the Federal Government in new activities. This assumption is far from true; it is contradicted by a set of facts that are beyond dispute.

With the passage of the Morrill Act-the Land-Grant College Act-in 1862, nearly 100 years ago, the Federal Government became significantly involved in higher education. In that act the Congress made possible the creation of a new class of educational institutes-colleges-most of which have since developed into full universities, emphasizing instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts. The institutions called into being by the Morrill Act-68 in all-have continued to enjoy a special relationship to the Federal Government and now are authorized to receive grants for instructional purposes totaling over $14 million annually.

The involvement of the Federal Government in higher education did not end there. Largely as a result of World War II and the cold war that followed, Federal activities affecting institutions of higher education have now reached the point where roughly 20 cents of every dollar spent by colleges and universities come from Federal sources. In the area of research-one of the vital functions of our higher education institutions-the President's Science Advisory Committee reported recently that the Federal Government is now by far the most important source of funds for research in the universities. In 1957-58 the Federal share in all such research was about 70 percent.

Federal funds now flow to institutions of higher education for purposes ranging from the building of dormitories to the construction of high-energy accelerators, from research into possible cures for cancer to research into better ways of teaching French, from the training of specialists in nuclear medicine to the education of college teachers of English.

The question of whether the Federal Government should play a part in the enterprise of higher education is simply not a real one. The Federal Government has had an important part in that enterprise for 100 years. Its part has grown dramatically in the last 20 years, and the real question that faces us-the one I shall discuss today is what shall the Federal Government do now, in 1961, to play its part in ways that will contribute to the continued development of a strong and vital system of higher education?

S. 1241 embodies the President's recommendation that the Federal role take the form of assistance both to institutions of higher education and to the students who seek to enroll in these institutions. For the former purpose, he has advocated a program of long-term, lowinterest loans for the construction of both dormitories and academic facilities; for the latter, he has recommended a program of Federal scholarships for needy and able American youth. I appear before you today, therefore, to represent the President's sense of action on these obvious areas of need.

urgency for

CONSTRUCTION OF ACADEMIC FACILITIES

Title I of S. 1241 would aid colleges and universities directly. The facts that support the need for prompt assistance to colleges and universities for the construction of physical facilities can be identified very specifically and briefly.

First, the Nation's colleges and universities must spend, between now and 1966, at least $8.6 billion for physical facilities, in order to accomodate increased enrollments and to provide adequate facilities for the numbers of students they now have.

Second, projections of anticipated resources for investment in physical plant by these institutions, taking into account every source of income now anticipated for this purpose, indicate that resources will fall short of facilities needs to the extent of $2.9 billion by 1965, $3.5 billion by 1966, and $5.2 billion by 1970.

It is conservatively estimated that enrollments in higher education will increase from 3,610,000 in the fall of 1960 to 6,006,000 in the fall of 1970. The accommodation of this increase of 2.4 million will cost the Nation's colleges and universities some $15.4 billion for added facilities. In addition, they must remedy present deficiencies.

The plants of our institutions are already strained to capacity. In many of them, three or four students are occupying dormitory rooms designed for two. Approximately 11 percent of the Nation's higher education physical plant is now obsolete and in urgent need of replacement, at a cost of $1 billion. Replacement and renovation costs through the next decade will add another $1 billion.

Many institutions are still using buildings donated by the Federal Government for temporary use after World War II. It is estimated that these constitute about 10 percent of all buildings currently in use on college and university campuses. The point has been reached at which the use of these buildings cannot be continued without mounting danger of serious safety hazards.

But hazards to the physical well-being of the students represent only one element of danger. A far greater danger is the eroding of quality in higher education that comes about when institutions are overcrowded, overloaded, and subjected to costs beyond their ability to find resources. This erosion of quality has already begun, and it will continue unchecked in the decade ahead unless action is taken promply to avert it.

The problem of accommodating these students is not simply one of providing more chairs and more teachers in more classrooms, or of placing more beds in more dormitory rooms. Higher education grows higher as society's requirements become greater; it probes further into man's capacity for specialized skills and develops more advanced competencies than were required in earlier decades.

The Office of Education has compiled a considerable amount of data that support and amplify the conclusions cited. I would like your permission to insert in the record at the conclusion of my remarks a memorandom on "Physical Facilities Needs of American Higher Education, 1961-70."

Senator MORSE. Without objection, so ordered.

(The document referred to follows:)

PHYSICAL FACILITIES NEEDS OF AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION,

1961-70

HIGHER EDUCATION PHYSICAL FACILITIES

The national objective

To provide adequate physical facilities for the accommodation of every student properly admissible to our colleges, universities, and professional schools in the next decade. This includes all instructional, research, residential, and auxiliary facilities requisite to each institution's performance of its full function.

The achievement of this objective will require major efforts as follows:

1. An increase in residential and service facilities sufficient to accommodate expanded enrollments of both single and married students who live on campus. 2. An increase in instructional facilities-classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and equipment-quantitatively sufficient for the needs of expanded enrollments and qualitatively sufficient for the ever-changing requirements of an advancing culture.

3. Rehabilitation, renovation, and new construction to wipe out the accumulated backlog of wornout, outmoded, and unsuitable facilities now in use.

4. Expansion of research and graduate instructional facilities and equipment, in keeping with both the growing needs of the Nation for research and for highly trained manpower, and the mounting potential of undergraduate enrollments from which graduate students and research personnel in increased numbers will be drawn.

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, $6,500.1 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.

1 This is a rough estimate derived from the six-State study mentioned on p. 33.