question: What is a land-grant university? How do they differ from other types of post-secondary school?
comment: Government has tried many schemes to encourage universities. The original "Ivy League" universities were sponsored by rich people, in a model like that used in England. This didn't scale well in a country expanding from the coastal cities westward. So, government came up with another scheme to try and foster universities west of the Appalachians. They set aside part of the land in new states to fund a state university system. It was usually much more land than would be needed for the campus, allowing the school to utilize revenue from its land holdings for funding. This allowed the government to get something they wanted without spending money they did not have.
passages: Land-grant universities are not to be confused with sea grant colleges (a program instituted in 1966), space grant colleges (instituted in 1988), or sun grant colleges (instituted in 2003). In some states, the land-grant missions for agricultural research and extension have been relegated to a statewide agency of the university system rather than the original land-grant campus; an example is the Texas A&M University System, whose agricultural missions, including the agricultural college at the system's main campus, are now under the umbrella of Texas A&M AgriLife.
  
  Section::::Relevant legislation.
  
  BULLET::::- The Morrill Act of 1862
  
  BULLET::::- The Hatch Act of 1887
   Section::::Expansion.
  
  While today's land-grant universities were initially known as land-grant colleges, only a few of the more than 70 institutions that developed from the Morrill Acts retain "College" in their official names; most are universities.
  
  The University of the District of Columbia received land-grant status in 1967 and a $7.24 million endowment (USD) in lieu of a land grant. In a 1972 Special Education Amendment, American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, Northern Marianas, and the Virgin Islands each received $3 million.
   BULLET::::- "Langston University" (Founded in 1897 as the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University. Langston University was created as a result of the second Morrill Act in 1890.)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Oregon.
  
  BULLET::::- Oregon State University
  
  Section::::By US state.:Pennsylvania.
  
  BULLET::::- Pennsylvania State University (designated in April 1863)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Rhode Island.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Rhode Island
   The land grant was originally provided in 1865 to a fledgling state agricultural college in Glencoe, Minnesota, but was re-appropriated to the University of Minnesota by an act of the Legislature on February 18, 1868.
  
  Section::::By US state.:Mississippi.
  
  BULLET::::- Mississippi State University
  
  BULLET::::- "Alcorn State University"
   BULLET::::- Public Law 89-106 – 1965
  
  BULLET::::- The National Sea Grant College Program – 1966
  
  BULLET::::- The Rural Development Act – 1972
  
  BULLET::::- The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977
  
  BULLET::::- The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 – Title XIV
  
  BULLET::::- The Resource Extension Act – 1978
  
  BULLET::::- Amendment to Title XIV – 1981
  
  BULLET::::- The Agriculture and Food Act of 1981
  
  BULLET::::- Amendment to Title XIV of Food Security Act – 1985
  
  BULLET::::- Improving America's Schools Act of 1994-- extended land-grant status to tribal colleges and universities
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- List of land-grant universities
   The three-part mission of the land-grant university continues to evolve in the twenty-first century. What originally was described as "teaching, research, and service" was renamed "learning, discovery, and engagement" by the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, and again recast as "talent, innovation, and place" by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). 
  
  Section::::History.:State law precedents.
   The mission of the land-grant universities was expanded by the Hatch Act of 1887, which provided federal funds to states to establish a series of agricultural experiment stations under the direction of each state's land-grant college, as well as pass along new information, especially in the areas of soil minerals and plant growth. The outreach mission was further expanded by the Smith–Lever Act of 1914 to include cooperative extension—the sending of agents into rural areas to help bring the results of agricultural research to the end users. Beyond the original land grants, each land-grant college receives annual federal appropriations for research and extension work on the condition that those funds are matched by state funds.
   Later on, other colleges such as the University of the District of Columbia and the "1994 land-grant colleges" for Native Americans were also awarded cash by Congress in lieu of land to achieve "land-grant" status.
  
  In imitation of the land-grant colleges' focus on agricultural and mechanical research, Congress later established programs of sea grant colleges (aquatic research, in 1966), space grant colleges (space research, in 1988), and sun grant colleges (sustainable energy research, in 2003).
   Section::::By US state.:Louisiana.
  
  BULLET::::- Louisiana State University
  
  BULLET::::- "Southern University and A&M College"
  
  Section::::By US state.:Maine.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Maine (designated on February 25, 1865; opened in 1868)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Maryland.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Maryland, College Park (designated on March 21, 1865)
  
  BULLET::::- "University of Maryland Eastern Shore"
   BULLET::::- A portion of the University of Georgia's funds were used to establish a branch in Dahlonega, Georgia that became North Georgia College & State University, which in turn was merged into the current University of North Georgia in 2013.
  
  BULLET::::- "Fort Valley State University"
  
  Section::::By US state.:Hawaii.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Hawaii
  
  Section::::By US state.:Idaho.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Idaho (designated in 1889; opened in 1892)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Illinois.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (designated on February 28, 1867; opened in 1868)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Indiana.
  
  BULLET::::- Purdue University (designated in 1869)
   List of land-grant universities
  
  This is a list of land-grant colleges and universities, in the United States of America and its associated territories.
  
  Land-grant institutions are often categorized as 1862, 1890, and 1994 institutions, based on the date of the legislation that designated most of them with land-grant status. For a map and list of all 76 land-grant institutions, see the State Partners page hosted by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (formerly the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service) of the United States Department of Agriculture.
   Older state universities – such as the University of Georgia, which was established with a grant of land in 1784 – were also funded through the use of state land grants. Indeed, land grants to educational institutions are a practice inherited from Europe, and are traceable all the way back to the societies of classical antiquity. These earlier examples, however, offered a different "mission" than the practical education offered by land-grant institutions established under the Morrill Act (or the Michigan legislature).
  
  Section::::Hatch Act and Smith–Lever Act.
   Ultimately, most land-grant colleges became large public universities that today offer a full spectrum of educational opportunities. However, some land-grant colleges are private schools, including Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tuskegee University.
  
  Section::::History.
   The State of Mississippi granted Alcorn three-fifths of the proceeds earned from the sale of thirty thousand acres of land scrip for agricultural colleges. From its beginning, it was a land grant college, and the money from the sale of the land scrip of the Morrill Act was used solely for the agricultural and mechanical components of this college.
  
  Section::::By US state.:Missouri.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Missouri (designated in 1870)
  
  BULLET::::- "Lincoln University"
   Land-grant university
  
  A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890.
   Section::::By US state.:Delaware.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Delaware (designated on March 14, 1867; reopened in 1870)
  
  BULLET::::- "Delaware State University" (original name was State College for Colored Students)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Florida.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Florida
  
  BULLET::::- "Florida A&M University" (after the second Morrill Act the name of this institution was State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Georgia.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Georgia
   Founded in 1855 by the State of Michigan, and known as the "Agricultural College of the State of Michigan" with its own state grants of land, the Michigan State model provided a precedent for the federal Morrill Act of 1862. In 1955, Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University were included on a US postage stamp commemorating MSU and PSU as the "First of the Land Grant Colleges."
  
  Section::::By US state.:Minnesota.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Minnesota
   In 1994, 29 tribal colleges and universities became land-grant institutions under the Improving America's Schools Act of 1994. As of 2008, 32 tribal colleges and universities have land-grant status. Most of these colleges grant two-year degrees. Six are four-year institutions, and two offer a master's degree.
  
  Section::::Nomenclature.
   The State of Maryland, in operating its land-grant program at the Maryland Agricultural College at College Park, which did not admit African American students, sought to provide a land-grant program for African Americans. In 1919 the state of Maryland assumed control of the Delaware Conference Academy (of the Delaware Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church) and changed its name to Eastern Shore Branch of the Maryland Agricultural College.
  
  Section::::By US state.:Massachusetts.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Massachusetts Amherst
  
  BULLET::::- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  
  Section::::By US state.:Michigan.
  
  BULLET::::- Michigan State University (designated on March 18, 1863)
   BULLET::::- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (designated on April 4, 1864)
  
  BULLET::::- New Jersey Institute of Technology
  
  Section::::By US state.:New Mexico.
  
  BULLET::::- New Mexico State University
  
  Section::::By US state.:New York.
  
  BULLET::::- Cornell University (designated on April 27, 1865) (Cornell is a private university with four statutory colleges, supported by the State of New York; however all of its colleges help to fulfill its land-grant mission.)
  
  BULLET::::- The original land-grant designee was the People's College in Havana, New York, from 1863 to 1865.
  
  Section::::By US state.:North Carolina.
  
  BULLET::::- North Carolina State University
   Section::::By US state.:South Carolina.
  
  BULLET::::- Clemson University
  
  BULLET::::- "South Carolina State University" (Founded in 1896 as the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina. It still has the 1890 land-grant legacy of service to the citizenry of the state.)
  
  Section::::By US state.:South Dakota.
  
  BULLET::::- South Dakota State University
  
  Section::::By US state.:Tennessee.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Tennessee
  
  BULLET::::- "Tennessee State University"
  
  TSU is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennessee. It was founded in 1909 as the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School and became the Agricultural and Industrial State Normal College two years later.
  
  Section::::By US state.:Texas.
   BULLET::::- Texas A&M University
  
  BULLET::::- "Prairie View A&M University"
  
  Founded in 1876, Prairie View is the second oldest state-sponsored institution of higher education in Texas (after Texas A&M). Consistent with terms of the federal Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, which provided public lands for the establishment of colleges, the State of Texas authorized an "Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Benefit of Colored Youth" as part of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University) System.
  
  Section::::By US state.:Utah.
  
  BULLET::::- Utah State University
  
  Section::::By US state.:Vermont.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Vermont
  
  Section::::By US state.:Virginia.
   BULLET::::- The second Morrill Act of 1890
  
  BULLET::::- The Adams Act – 1906
  
  BULLET::::- The Nelson Act – 1907
  
  BULLET::::- The Smith–Lever Act of 1914
  
  BULLET::::- Chapter 79 – May 8, 1914
  
  BULLET::::- The Smith–Hughes Act – 1917
  
  BULLET::::- The Parnell Act – 1925
  
  BULLET::::- The Capper–Ketcham Act – 1928
  
  BULLET::::- The Bankhead–Jones Act of 1935
  
  BULLET::::- The Bankhead–Flannegan Act – 1945
  
  BULLET::::- The Research Marketing Act – 1946
  
  BULLET::::- Amendment to Smith–Lever Act – 1953, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1968
  
  BULLET::::- Amended Hatch Act – 1955
  
  BULLET::::- The McIntire–Stennis Act – 1962
  
  BULLET::::- The Research Facilities Act – 1965
   The AIHEC has its headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia for the benefits of ready access to the federal government in Washington, D.C.. None of its member schools are located in Virginia. They are located from Michigan westward to Arizona, California and Alaska.
  
  Section::::By US state.
  
  Section::::By US state.:Alabama.
  
  BULLET::::- "Alabama A&M University"
  
  BULLET::::- Auburn University (designated as a land-grant college in 1872 under the name Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama)
  
  BULLET::::- "Tuskegee University"
   BULLET::::- Washington State University
  
  Section::::By US state.:West Virginia.
  
  BULLET::::- West Virginia University (designated on February 7, 1867)
  
  BULLET::::- "West Virginia State University" (Established as the West Virginia Colored Institute in 1891.)
  
  After the desegregation of West Virginia schools in the 1950s, the state board of education voted to terminate West Virginia State University's land-grant funding structure. West Virginia State University was restored to land-grant status in 2001.
  
  Section::::By US state.:Wisconsin.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Wisconsin–Madison (designated on April 12, 1866)
  
  Section::::By US state.:Wyoming.
  
  BULLET::::- University of Wyoming
  
  Section::::Associated territories.
  
  Section::::Associated territories.:American Samoa.
  
  BULLET::::- American Samoa Community College
  
  Section::::Associated territories.:District of Columbia.
  