Failing college: why are we screwing up the world's best higher education system?

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Cover story

THE AMERICAN higher education system is the envy of the world, or so the cliche goes. The sons and daughters of foreign potentates flock to our shores, while kids raised on apple pie and Sesame Street claw each others' eyes out for the chance to attend a top university. With more than 18 million current undergraduates--who pay average annual tuition of $32,000 each--the market for higher education seems to be going gangbusters.

Expanding post-secondary education is a government priority, too. In his 2009 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama declared that "every American will need to get more than a high school diploma." He sounded a similar note three years later, saying that "higher education can't be a luxury, it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford."

But despite--or because of--this attention, there is trouble in paradise. Enrollment may be skyrocketing, but so are student debt levels and default rates. Tuition costs are increasing many times faster than income, or than prices in any other sector. This is in large part thanks to the gusher of federal money pouring into American colleges in the form of Pell Grants, subsidized loans, and research dollars, totaling nearly $200 billion a year. While the dream is to make college accessible to all, the reality is that subsidies contribute to skyrocketing prices, making college an increasingly expensive and risky undertaking.

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