It is both the best of times and the worst of times for America's community colleges. In the 100 years since their creation, these colleges have spread across the United States to become the largest sector of higher education, representing nearly 1,200 regionally accredited institutions within commuting distance of over 90 percent of the…

Ideas from current economic theory are applied to the nation's attitudes toward higher education. Ideas about asymmetric market information, trust markets, nonprofit firms, and maximization on campus are discussed. Public relations problems concerning accounting, deficits, and interest arbitrage are identified. The need for increased efficiency…

Problems with the Reagan administration's proposal for an income contingent loan (ICL) program are discussed. From an institution's perspective, ICLs are likely to be a major administrative headache because colleges would be required to administer it. (MLW)

The current high rate of tuition inflation and the low rate of savings by parents for future college costs is fueling interest in tuition prepurchase plans that guarantee the price of college years in advance. Middle class interest, educational risks, investments vs. tuition, and tax issue are discussed. (MLW)

Guarded optimism about the future of American higher education is expressed, despite a slowing of growth in social services, a temporary period of consolidation, and a prediction of unforseen events. An underlying stability in higher education suggests considerable continuity in the next decade. (MSE)

Colleges must investigate financing options before they are needed by their students and be ready to help students find new and creative ways to fund their education. Tax-exempt financing options, new sources of loan capital, cooperative arrangements with state agencies, and new federal aid are among the possibilities to explore. (Author/MSE)

Basic public funding for American colleges and universities has developed historically as a state function. The reasons for that approach have disappeared and the federal government must recognize its responsibility for the support of higher education. (MLW)

A proposed change in federal student loan policy from providing loans through lending institutions to providing loans directly to students is of enormous importance to higher education, with major implications for colleges and universities. There are powerful arguments pro and con. Institutions must ensure they and policymakers understand the…

College assessment systems, suggest New Jersey's governor, must be built from two sides to have integrity: a common core of statewide information about college performance defined by public bodies and boards, and institutional mission-related information defined by college presidents, faculty, and trustees. (MLW)

New information technology promises greatly improved education and might increase speed, mastery, and independence in learning. Much of what is now taught in college could be learned earlier, later, and elsewhere. Eliminating the geographic imperative of education, financing new forms of higher learning, and future institutions are discussed. (MLW)

The debate about the purposes of education is worthless because the power of education is vastly exaggerated, because it is assumed that improvement can come from within the system, and because the debators are unaware of the real purpose of education: socialization. What happens in the classroom is largely irrelevant. (MSE)

Social and economic changes in recent decades have meant significant changes in the mission, quality, and cost of public colleges; and an elite public higher education structure is emerging. A major overhaul of public higher education's economic policies and financial strategies is needed if it is to become affordable again. (MSE)

There is a distinct possibility, it is suggested, that American higher education will experience a price war in the coming period. The recent growth in awards of financial aid based on "merit" may be viewed as either its precursor, or its prologue, or its early major phase. (MLW)

The Higher Education Research Program, 19 educational practitioners invited by The Pew Charitable Trusts to help take stock of higher education's strengths and weaknesses, its challenges and opportunities, is discussed. Three principal issues facing higher education include costs, the quality of teaching and learning, and making higher education…

Federal student assistance has become a tangled thicket of programs and policies. It is complicated, fails to focus benefits on the neediest students, and is increasingly expensive. Complexity and cost, grants or loans, who should benefit from student assistance and who should pay, and reshaping student aid are discussed. (MLW)