Almost 50 years ago, a New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) newsletter editorialized that "institutions of higher learning must not become devices to reverse our historic trend away from a class society. We should continue to open wider doors of opportunity for students of genuine ability without regard to (family) income." The Higher Education Act of 1965, with its commitment of federal support to new need-based student aid programs, and subsequent legislation establishing Basic Grants, later renamed Pell Grants, seemed to confirm that aspiration. The years following NEBHE's founding saw a significant expansion in the number of citizens pursuing higher education. In recent years, however, that social contract between the government and the larger society to make higher education available without regard to family income, has become increasingly tenuous. Recent articles, books, and media reports document the proposition that the more competitive institutions, whether private colleges or public universities, have become "bastions of privilege" as much as "engines of opportunity," and that over the past 25 years, the more competitive and wealthier institutions have become increasingly populated by the most economically advantaged students. Public institutions with their more limited resources and lower tuition have become the places of necessity for middle- and lower-income families, if they can afford college at all. The hardening of class lines in higher education has broader class implications because as the rewards for a college degree from a prestigious institution become increasingly valuable in the global economy, it is the already advantaged who reap the largest rewards from higher education. In addition, the quality of a liberal education at all institutions suffers when the economic diversity of the student body disappears. This article discusses the factors resulting to the growing stratification in higher education and steps that can be taken to reduce the gaps between rich and poor overall in the United States.