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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Did the 1944 GI Bill spur an increase in higher-education enrollment in the US?

Thursday, January 14, 2021

By Will Gunderson

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YES

College enrollment in the U.S. increased following the passage of The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the GI Bill.

The GI Bill, which provided funding for tuition and living expenses for veterans to continue their education, was passed near the end of World War II to avoid mass unemployment as the 15 million men and women who fought in the war began to return to the U.S.

According to the Our Documents Initiative, “the number of degrees awarded by U.S. colleges and universities more than doubled between 1940 and 1950, and the percentage of Americans with bachelor degrees, or advanced degrees, rose from 4.6% in 1945 to 25% a half-century later.”

The National Center for Education Statistics concurs that “college enrollment increased as many war veterans took advantage of the GI Bill of Rights to attend the nation’s institutions of higher education.”

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Our Documents: Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944)

National Center for Education Statistics: History of higher education—a statistical portrait

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.