This study explores the effect of economic and military crises on federal policy growth in higher education from 1932 to 1963. By analyzing federal records, campus materials, newspapers and educational association journals, the papers demonstrates that economic crises led the federal government to institute decentralized state building efforts to resolve the emergency, while military crises resulted in more centralized growth. In addition, the paper also examines the effects of federal growth during the period on different institution types within higher education. The study explores how individual structures at each institutional type--such as missions, financial stability and history--influenced reactions to federal assistance. By examining institutional structures and their interaction with federal policy during the period, the paper provides a more complex analysis of the outcomes of federal growth for land-grant institutions, religious colleges and women's colleges and universities that enriches the current historical understanding. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]