Colleges began to be established for two reasons. First, most were founded by religious denominations. Second, colleges were the pride of the community evoked by the revolution, the strange american pursuit of progress, and migration to the west. The East had colleges, and so should the West. Almost anybody could "found" a college. College charters were easy to obtain and one could "found" a college whether or not they had the resources. Because of these loose rules, many new institutions financially crashed from lack of funds.