In the past few years an important beginning has been made toward defining and exploring the major issues in the economics of higher education. The research of economists covers a wide range of problems, from that of the Nation's requirements for college-trained people, to detailed questions of financing. Perhaps no single area of this work offers larger promise than that of research on education as an investment in people. The Division of Higher Education has sought, through this volume, to bring together important contributions about the economics of higher education for the use of educators and others concerned with the formulation of educational policy. The Division sought, too, to provide a working tool for the economist turning anew to research on higher education. This volume is a summary of a substantial segment of earlier research and opens up new questions for inquiry on a broad range of macroeconomic problems. Part I of this volume concerns the demands of students for higher education and of the Nation for high-talent manpower. Part II presents the fundamentals of a theory of investment in people through education. It includes consideration of the essential differences and similarities between investment in people and investment in physical capital, an assessment of the educational stock of the labor force--both in terms of original cost and in terms of replacement--and estimates of the volume of resources allocated to education and the return on this investment. Part III deals with the financing of higher education and covers a wide range of sources of funds, public and private. Part IV describes briefly the ongoing research in the economics of higher education and outlines the range of issues which require still further study. Appendices include: (1) Sample size, interviews and non-interviews by spending unit and family classification for the cross-section and re-interview sample; (2) Earnings forgone while attending high school, as calculated by Schultz, compared with such forgone earnings as reported in two empirical studies, selected years, 1899-1923; and (3) Local funds for higher education (current funds only): amount and percentage of total State and local current funds, 50 States and District of Columbia, 1957-58. (Contains 396 footnotes, 101 tables, and 4 charts.) [Due to its size, this volume has been processed as three separate parts. The first part includes the foreword through Chapter VIII (ED543989). The second part includes Chapters IX through XV (ED543990). The third part includes Chapter XVI through the Appendices (ED543991). The cover page and table of contents are repeated in the second and third parts. Best copy available has been provided.]