Calls for instructional innovation in higher education assert that the current system suffers from one or more of the following problems: access constraints that stymie social and economic mobility, spending norms that over time inflate cost relative to value, and student outcomes that fail to adequately encourage citizenship and enhance employability. None of the alleged problems are new. This article takes a hard look at the reality of instructional innovation in U.S. higher education since 2000. What instructional innovations have been attempted and to what extent have target problems been tackled? Will the COVID-19 pandemic be game-changing? Three areas of possible innovation deserve examination: (1) institutional type: the rise and fall of for-profit higher education; (2) credential type: degree versus nondegree; and (3) delivery mode: campus versus online.