The multiplicity of American higher education is well-known at home and abroad. This thesis mainly concerns about the multiplicity of American higher education. The multiplicity can be noted in American higher education system, such as the management of American colleges, the standard of students enrolment, the groups of students, the degrees in American colleges, the classroom activities, the teaching practice, the financial sources, and the functions of service. The cultural background for the multiplicity of American higher education will be analyzed. The permissiveness of American society is the soil to produce the multiplicity of American higher education. The superiority of American higher education is embodied in it’s multiplicity and the American higher education is based on its cultural background. The multiplicity vitalizes American higher education, from which we can learn how to develop the multiplicity of higher education with Chinese characteristics under market economy.