The United States faces a period of opportunity for reinvention unlike any other, and the need for dramatic reform extends to higher education. Today, the United States is at a crossroads, facing unprecedented challenges in meeting expectations and upholding values that have long distinguished the nation. For the benefit of every American, decades-old approaches to structuring and paying for education beyond high school must be altered to ensure the nation produces enough graduates capable of contributing fully to society and to the communities in which they live. Political leaders responsible for meeting this rising demand for a skilled workforce and educated citizenry are seeking fundamental changes in higher education, which has long served as an engine of opportunity and economic mobility in the United States. Longstanding approaches for providing college and other postsecondary education cannot be scaled affordably to meet a growing need for better-educated adults. To ensure the nation has enough people with meaningful workforce credentials and high-quality associate or bachelor's degrees, the United States must develop lower-cost, high-quality alternatives capable of delivering education to millions of students whom colleges and universities are not serving as well as they could. This report outlines a Four Step agenda that higher education leaders and policy makers are adopting across the country to help their states address economic challenges through higher education.