US Public Higher Education: The Challenge to Lower Costs and Increase Access and Quality

Abstract

Referred to as the “iron triangle” in 2008, the three factors—access, cost, and quality—continue today to challenge the best thinking in US higher education policy and practice (Immerwahr, Johnson, and Gasbarra 2008). The interaction and tension among these three goals characterize the dilemma facing US higher education. At the very time President Obama and the majority of state governors call for a significant increase in the percentage of the working age population holding an associate’s degree or higher by 2025, the federal and state resources available for public higher education have constricted. The most obvious avenue for raising revenues—increasing tuition and fees—is denounced by parents, students, governors, and Congress. The most obvious ways to cut costs and increase the production of undergraduates—increasing the numbers of students per class and per faculty member, and decreasing time and credits to degree— are widely viewed as threats to quality. The demand equation facing US higher education is high quality and globally relevant degrees for more students, in less time, albeit with less revenue.