Brigham Young Academy was established in Provo on Oct. 16, 1875, 29 years after pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entered Salt Lake Valley.
Utah Territory was only beginning to establish an educational system, and the church created schools to fill a void in its fledgling communities. As the public schools increasingly took on the burden, church schools were abandoned.
Brigham Young University, however, survived and continued to offer schooling for LDS students. On Oct. 23, 1903, the academy was officially upgraded to a university, but a university with a dual role- to provide higher education training and to foster LDS religious values. Church leaders have rigorously maintained that dual emphasis, molding BYU into a distinctive Utah institution.
For some time, BYU growth paralleled that of the church, with a tremendous enrollment surge in the 1950s and 1960s.
Faced with what loomed to be insatiable demand as membership climbed into the millions, leaders debated the church's role in education. The argument of "necessity" no longer applied as other institutions of higher education became available to church members.
A major factor was the cost of maintaining a higher education system supported by the tithes of faithful church members. The systems was in competition with other primary programs of the church, such as missionary work, building of chapels and temples and genealogical work.
In the 1970s, it was determined to permanently cap BYU enrollment at 27,000. That decision has increased competition among prospective students and also has affected Utah's public higher education system.