Perhaps the best contrast between a system that funds individuals and one that funds institutions occurred after World war II, when our soldiers came home. To pay for their college educations, Congress passed the GI bill-perhaps the most successful social program in American history. Congress didn’t fund GI colleges; it let every GI pick an accredited university, college, or technical school and offered to pay for it. With this act, Congress turned millions of battle-scarred young men into the education a 30-year economic boom.