Statistics classifying American colleges and universities according to their educational functions and missions are included. Rather than creating a hierarchy, this information groups institutions by shared characteristics. Changes in higher education are portrayed, and a continued growth in institutions of higher education is noted. There are…

Listed are selected characteristics for institutions of higher education and their branches offering accredited programs, as published in the "Education Directory, Colleges and Universities, 1977-78" by the National Center for Education Statistics. The institutions are shown in State order and alphabetically within States for each…