Research shows that all sectors of society, across age and racial groups, consider access to higher education as essential to achieving satisfying employment and a better quality of life. Yet there has been surprisingly little public discussion about recent major changes in higher education access and funding and no policy debate about how to respond to Americans' growing aspirations about college.

This book stimulates debate by presenting research about future demand: changing patterns of postsecondary participation and census projections over the next fifteen years, and their...