In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama lamented America's failure to keep pace with other industrialized nations and challenged the country to regain its mantle as the worldwide leader in postsecondary attainment. Accomplishing this goal requires not only greater access to postsecondary education, but higher levels of college completion. Providing consumers with better information about college costs and quality would help hold postsecondary institutions accountable. Two new voluntary accountability systems miss the mark, however, either by failing to offer new information or by making it difficult for consumers to make comparisons across institutions. A better accountability system would make such comparisons easier and would be mandatory, not voluntary. (Contains 4 figures and 8 notes.)