The aim of this thesis is to bring to bear the concepts, tools, and theories of human capital and human resources economics to evaluate the Federal Government's massive involvement in higher education under the World War II GI Bill of Rights. The major findings include estimates of total human capital formation by education, both during and after the war by veterans, and estimates of how large the stock of post-service college education would have been had the schooling of ex-servicemen not been subsidized under the GI Bill. Regression analysis is used to explain the variance in earnings for veterans, and special emphasis given the earnings-education relationship, and the impact on that relationship on the timing of schooling in relation to military service. Finally, rates of return to college for typical veterans are calculated from two viewpoints: private rates of return without the GI Bill subsidy; and rates of return to total resource investment. (Author)