California's Master Plan for Higher Education represented a promise, of an affordable college education, to every person who could benefit. For decades, California's lawmakers honored that promise. Rapidly increasing college fees, coupled with higher costs for room and board, books, transportation, and healthcare are pricing students out of higher education or burdening them with excessive debt. This anthology of the California Postsecondary Education Commission's research provides insights into why college is less affordable and what California's leaders can do to make higher education affordable once again. There are five Commission documents in this anthology. These include: (1) Recommended Policy Options and a Panel Report on College Affordability (Report 06-22, December 2006); (2) Keeping College Affordable in California: A Report of the Special Panel on Affordability to the California Postsecondary Education Commission (December 2006); (3) Developing a Statewide Higher Education Affordability Policy (June 2006); (4) Development of a New Commission Policy on Higher Education Affordability: A Set of Principles; and (5) Resident Undergraduate Student Fees -- Issues and Options (March 2006).

Affordability, access, and accountability have long been among the central challenges facing higher education—and they remain so today. Here, Donald E. Heller and other higher education scholars and practitioners explore the current debates surrounding these key issues. As students and their families struggle to meet rising tuition prices, and as state funding for higher education dwindles, policymakers confront issues of affordability within state and institutional budgets. Changing demographics and challenges to affirmative action complicate the admissions process even as colleges and universities seek to diversify enrollments. And issues of institutional accountability have forced the restructuring of higher education governing boards and a reexamination of the role of public trustees in governance. This collection analyzes how issues of affordability, access, and accountability influence the way in which state governments approach, monitor, and set public higher education policy. The contributors examine the latest research on pressing challenges, explore how states are coping with these challenges, and consider what the future holds for public postsecondary education in the United States.

The Postsecondary Education Commission is currently examining the question of affordability at California's colleges and universities. It is a pivotal issue that is being debated both within and outside the higher education community. Clearly, the ability of students and families to finance a higher education is becoming a critical issue. This report addresses the "affordability crisis" in California higher education today. It served as a background piece for panel discussions that were held at the Commission's June 27, 2006, meeting. In a recent paper prepared for the National Commission on the Future of Higher Education, the Public Policy Institute for Higher Education identified four major policy concerns surrounding higher education: (1) Student Affordability; (2) Institutional Cost Control; (3) State and National Capacity; and (4) Public Credibility. This report is divided into the following sections: (1) Background; (2) The Commission's Principles; (3) The Role of Need-Based Grant Aid; (4) The Dynamics of Debt; (5) What Are the Major Risk Factors in Education Debt?; and (6) The Affordability Panel. Appended are: (1) Development of a New Commission Policy on Higher Education Affordability: A Set of Principles; and (2) Detailed cost information on all of the California public university campuses.

Whether they recognize it or not, virtually all colleges and universities face three GrandChallenges:·Improve the learning outcomes of a higher education: A large majority of college graduates are weak in capabilities that faculty and employers both see as crucial.·Extend more equitable access to degrees: Too often, students from underserved groups and poor households either don’t enter college or else drop out without a degree. The latter group may be worse off economically than if they’d never attempted college.·Make academic programs more affordable (in money and time) for students and other important stakeholder groups: Many potential students believe they lack the money or time needed for academic success. Many faculty believe they don’t have time to make their courses and degree programs more effective. Many institutions believe they can’t afford to improve outcomes.These challenges are global. But, in a higher education system such as that in the United States, the primary response must be institutional. This book analyzes how, over the years, six pioneering colleges and universities have begun to make visible, cumulative progress on all three fronts.