Recommendations to improve quality in undergraduate study while maintaining access are offered that would involve statewide entry and exit standards and better preparation of students to meet the standards. Evidence suggests that an estimated 40 to 50 percent of entering freshmen will be referred to remedial education, and colleges may be granting degrees to students who lack basic academic skills. The recommendations to improve undergraduate education are directed to three areas: beginning college-level work; student achievement and outcomes; and faculty and curriculum. States are advised to improve the readiness of students to begin college work by such measures as: requiring that higher education establish statewide standards for placement in credit courses; requiring that threshold placement standards and assessment procedures be consistent statewide; and ensuring that students not qualified to begin degree-credit study have geographical access to programs that will prepare them to qualify. It is also recommended that standards of academic progress be adopted and that colleges should specify skills/knowledge students need for the bachelor's degree. Proposed ways to strengthen the curriculum and the faculty reward system, which would involve faculty and presidential leadership, are also offered. (SW)