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A thought-provoking new report just out from the Center on the Future of Higher Education documents and laments the assault on community colleges underway across the country. Bucking historic trends in rising college enrollments, there's been a startling stagnation or even a downturn in enrollment in community colleges, not because demand has declined but because there is insufficient capacity .  In some places and in some programs, thanks to substantial and sustained budget cuts, the community colleges are literally tapped out. That's right-- students are showing up at "open door" colleges and being effectively turned away.  Welcome to the "new normal." If you believe that the purpose of public postsecondary education is to provide opportunities to the most advantaged, this is insane. Clearly, the current model for public higher education is broken, and as the report argues, it's time for a "reboot." If you believe that college endows social ...

Make no mistake about it-- a conservative agenda in public higher education, quite similar to the one for public k-12, is steadily progressing across the nation.  The multi-pronged attack includes cutting budgets ("we have no choice-- look at the deficit!"), deriding outcomes ("college is worthless, students are partying"), and applying business models to evaluating success ( c.f. all the efficiency talk). Today's news is rife with stories suggesting that under attack, public colleges and universities are abandoning their missions, adapting market-centered approaches, fighting with each other, and otherwise jumping ship. A new survey reports that 143 public colleges and universities now have differential tuition  -- a policy that seems efficient on its face, but may well further stratify opportunities, leaving behind those with the least information and least ability to pay. In Florida, a week after announcing substantial budget cuts to state U's , the legis...