Puerto Rico has made enormous strides in public education. In 1900, only 14% of the island's school-age children were actually in school; the proportion had increased to 50% by 1940 and 85% by the late 1970s. The government encouraged school attendance among the poor in the 1940s and 1950s by providing inexpensive shoes, free lunches, school uniforms, and small scholarships. Today, education is compulsory for children between 6 and 16 years of age, and nearly two out of ten commonwealth budget dollars goes to education. About 93.8% of the population is literate (2001).
In the 2002/03 academic year there were 596,350 students attending public school, and 210,665 students attending private schools. Instruction is carried out in Spanish, but English is taught at all levels. In 2002/03, there were 1,532 public schools, and 545 private schools in Puerto Rico.
The main state-supported institution of higher learning is the University of Puerto Rico, with its main campus at Rico Piedras. The system also included doctorate-level campuses at Mayagüez and San Juan (for medical sciences), and four year colleges at Aguadilla, Arecibo, Bayamon, Carolina, Cayey, Humacao, Ponce, and Utuado. The 39 private institutions in 2002/03 included Inter-American University, with campuses at Hato Rey, San German, and other locations, and the Catholic University of Puerto Rico, at Ponce. In 2002/03, 191,552 students were enrolled at higher education institutions in Puerto Rico.