Lesson Plan

William G. Bowen (1933-2016) was president emeritus of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Princeton University and founding chairman of ITHAKA.. His many books included The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions (with Derek Bok) (Princeton). Michael S. McPherson is president of the Spencer Foundation, former president of Macalester College, and the author of many books. Bowen, McPherson, and Matthew M. Chingos are the authors of Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities (Princeton).

• Preface and Acknowledgments vii PART I: Prelude 1 PART II: Pressing National Needs 11 Achieving Higher Levels of Educational Attainment 11 Raising College Completion Rate in the United States 21 Reducing Time-to-Degree 31 Reducing Disparities in Outcomes by Socioeconomic Status and Race or Ethnicity 34 Achieving Affordability 46 Strengthening Leadership Capacities 61 PART III: An Agenda for Change 73 Governmental Funding-Apart from Student Aid 73 Payments by Individuals-and Student Aid (Including Loans) 87 Increasing Efficiency 106 Putting High-Profile College Sports in Proper Perspective 118 Rationalizing Staffing: Supporting the Development of a "Teaching Corps" 121 Improving Teaching through Technology: Adaptive Learning 126 Enabling Stronger Leadership 134 References 141 Index 153

One of Bloomberg's Best Books of 2016 "Bachelor's degrees should be completed in three years. MOOCs should replace general education. Coding boot camps are the game changer. College should be free. Internships are more important than instruction. Eliminate administrative bloat and higher education will be prosperous. Pick your quick fix for higher education, but it won't be endorsed in Lesson Plan, a new book by William G. Bowen and Michael S. McPherson. They make clear early in the book that while higher education has serious problems, they find most punditry and political proposals for higher education to be wrong."--Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed "A masterly summary of the state of higher education... [Bowen and McPherson] bring together current research, broad conversations with experts, and their own perspective in a brilliant, coherent explanation of their conviction that academia continues to be a vital investment in human capital... A must-read for everyone concerned about price and quality in higher education."--Library Journal "Lesson Plan [is] a concise, compelling, and, at times, courageous analysis of the ways in which institutions of higher education are failing to provide equal opportunity and lay out an ambitious reform agenda."--Glenn Altschuler, Huffington Post "I recommend [this book] to anyone who wants a better understanding of the problems in higher education in the US, and especially to anyone who is working in higher education and wants to contribute to improving it."--Harry Brighouse, Crooked Timber "A short, yet disarmingly rich and precise, primer on higher-education policy and its compelling relevance for the future of our economy and democracy... [C]ombines the precision born of encyclopedic knowledge with the plain-spoken prose of experts for whom policy analysis is second nature."--Clayton Spencer, Harvard Magazine "A short and clearly written book about the problems facing higher education in the United States. It offers the reader a great deal of data and support for its claims, and it is comprehensive in its approach as its programme for change presents multiple proposals requiring action by federal and state governments as well as institutions."--Chris Mayer, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management