New Englanders have been well-served by the region's higher education legacy. They tend to be better-educated and more prosperous than the rest of the nation, and the cultural life in their cities and towns is exceptionally rich. But New England dares not rest on its laurels. The growing demand for even greater levels of educational attainment in…

The Morrill Act of 1862, signed by Abraham Lincoln, established the land grant university with a Solomon-like simplicity: the federal government would deed large tracts of land to establish public colleges in each state. These institutions would then train young citizens in agriculture, forestry, mining and the mechanical arts--fields tied…