[Chickensoup]

The problem is that most of these “Pennsylvania state universities” really should be called “Pennsylvania state colleges”, and were state teachers’ colleges at one time.

Too many “colleges” now use “university” to inflate their reputation.
____________________

That was a federal tuition aid issue from the Clinton era. More money and all. That is why there is Shoeshine University and car repair.

[kosciusko51]

That may have accelerated it, but according to BAD – Or, The Dumbing of America (Paul Fussell, 1991), the practice had started before BJ Clinton.