Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Statement by the President Following Passage by the Senate of the Higher Education Bill.

September 02, 1965

THE SENATE'S passage of the Higher Education Act is a triumph for Congress and for millions of students and teachers upon whose achievements our destiny largely depends.

This legislation is the most comprehensive program for higher education in our history. It will provide opportunity grants for 140,000 talented young Americans who want-and should--go to college but cannot afford it. It will assure loans for more than a million students to ease the burden on their families.

This legislation offers grants for less developed colleges to improve their faculties and teaching programs, and funds for enriching college library programs.

I am particularly glad that the Senate added provisions for a 6,000-member National Teacher Corps and for fellowship grants to elementary and secondary schoolteachers. These programs will mean much to schools in areas of poverty whose students have been the victims not only of impoverished homes but of impoverished schools.

This act has many provisions, but it has only one purpose: to nourish human potential today, so that our Nation can realize its rich promise tomorrow.

Note: The Higher Education Act of 1965 was approved by the President on November 8, 1965 (see Item 603).

Lyndon B. Johnson, Statement by the President Following Passage by the Senate of the Higher Education Bill. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240693

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