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The changes in the higher education programs in California were partly brought about due to the increases in enrollment in the California public universities. A percentage of these increases can be attributed to the number of veterans that either returned to school or began their 
education after serving in World War II. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, referred to here as the “GI bill,” provided educational aid for veterans, where the Veterans’ Administration would pay educational or training institutions for the cost of tuition and other necessary expenses for veterans wishing to attend any variety of public or private schools. This page will offer a general overview of the reasons behind the GI bill, some provisions of the GI bill, and how universities, such as UCLA, were affected by the hundreds of thousands of new students enrolled due to the GI bill. To view the full GI bill, please visit this site: www.higher-ed.org/resources/GI_bill.htm.
Needs for the GI Bill
The Selected Service Act for World War II interrupted the education and training of many young men and women as they were called into service and forced to abandon their studies. The Federal Government and State governments realized they were responsible for organizing a program to help the returning veterans who were either never educated or whose education had been interrupted readjust to civilian life by providing education and training. No such program existed, and two categories of returning veterans were classified as deserving education and training available at Government expense. According to the “General Accounting Office Report of Survey – Veterans’ Education and Training Program” these two categories were:
The GI Bill
President Roosevelt signs the "GI Bill of Rights"
The Congress’ solution to providing education and training for veterans was described in “The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944” referred to as the “GI bill.” In this bill, the qualifications for what types of veterans are eligible for aid, the length of training, the amount of expenses paid, the living allowance, and the types of educational institutions allowed to participate in the GI bill are all described. The types of educational institutions listed in the Explanation of the Provisions of “The GI bill of Rights” are “public or private, elementary, secondary, and other schools furnishing education for adults; business schools and colleges; scientific and technical institutions; colleges, vocational schools, junior colleges, teachers’ colleges, normal schools, professional schools, universities, and other educational and training institutions including industrial establishments.”
How the GI Bill affected Universities
American colleges and universities faced drastic changes in all aspects of their institutions as a result of the GI bill. The greatest affect was in the surprising increase in applicants. In the fall of 1954, eighty-eight thousand veterans had been accepted in the GI bill program, and by 1946 more than one million veterans enrolled in college through the GI bill. Some colleges were encouraging veterans to attend their school by establishing programs that would attract possible GI applicants. Some schools also raised tuition to take advantage of the money the government was funding the veteran’s education with. The increase in enrollment in the universities created a larger applicant pool than usual, which complicated the standard admission processes. Decisions had to be made quicker, with a change in utilization of standardized testing for admission and placement.
Registration Day at Harvard after the GI bill and increased enrollment
The GI bill called for change in the universities, along with generating a transformation of the student body. Postwar enrollments made construction at universities a necessity, building everything from classrooms to dormitories. The social changes at the universities were even more drastic. The veterans entering the universities were generally older than traditional students, many were also married, had children, or disabled. Overall, the newly admitted veterans were more conservative then typical American students, and only a small percentage of the GI bill students were women.
These changes, and increases in enrollments, continued throughout the years, contributing to the problems in the late 1950s that lead to the creation of the Master Plan.
GI Bill students and their families at the housing projects for Veterans and their wives at the University of Vermont
