The publication each 2 years by the Office of Education of a statistical report dealing with the institutions of higher education leads an occasional reader to a misconception of the Federal Government's relation to higher education. There is no national system of higher education in this country. Except for the 69 land-grant colleges and universities, and the Army, Navy, and Marine training schools, the Federal Government exercises no administrative jurisdiction over any of the institutions of higher education. Whether or not an institution is to be regarded as a college for purposes of these statistical compilations depends upon certain arbitrarily chosen facts such as enrollment, accreditation, etc. Several fairly large groups of institutions which provide education at a level above the high school are not included in the compilations. Typical of these groups are private business colleges, private art schools, and schools specializing in training for certain healing cults not approved by the medical profession. In the statistical compilations found in this document, the data were gathered by means of two questionnaires--one on faculty, students, and degrees; and the other on receipts, expenditures, and property. These questionnaires were sent to all of the 1,465 institutions listed in the 1934 Office of Education Educational Directory. Of the questionnaires sent out, usable returns on the personnel blank were received from 1,418 institutions. For the questionnaire on receipts, expenditures, and property, 1,357 usable returns were received. This bulletin is presented in four parts, as follows: (1) Part I: General Findings and Interpretations; (2) Part II: Summary Tables for the United States; (3) Part III: Summaries by State; and (4) Part IV: Statistics Detailed for Individual Institutions. (Contains 43 tables and 6 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]