This report investigates whether the state of California can return to the levels of access to higher education envisioned in its Master Plan adopted in 1960. Chapter 1 is an introduction which discusses the state's commitment to access, the structure of the educational sector under the Master plan, the effects of the recession of the early 1990s on state finances, and the approach and organization of this report. Chapter 2 focuses on the decrease in the number of students served, the demand for public undergraduate education, and estimation of baseline demand. Chapter 3 discusses the deficit in available spaces for applicants to state institutions of higher education and labels this gap the "access deficit." The chapter also presents projections of the supply and demand implications of the state's expected and optimistic supply scenarios. Chapter 4 discusses the prospects for closing the access deficit, focusing on economic growth, improved efficiency, higher fees and tuition, and the three-year degree. Chapter 5 presents the conclusion that the state of California will not be able to close the access deficits and must reconsider the relationship between the people of the state and the public education enterprise detailed in the Master Plan. Seven appendices present various modeling scenarios to deal with the problems of supply and demand in public higher education as well as an analysis of total public enrollments. (Contains 64 references.) (CK)