Although two- and four-year colleges are important linchpins in state economies, there is a growing sense that the existing system is not as productive as it needs to be, particularly in this era of tight budgets. State leaders must seek out reforms that leverage existing investments more effectively and that put their higher education systems on a stable, sustainable path.

In a recent post, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) education expert Andrew Kelly highlights a notable trend: prestigious academic institutions are beginning to offer open, online courses. Kelly explains that if employers and less prestigious colleges begin to accept the credit earned in these...

A century from now, observers may well identify the last months of 2011 as the start of higher education’s Great Disruption.

Once little more than a blip on the radar of American higher education, for-profit colleges now enroll about 1 in 10 of the nation’s postsecondary students. And this fast growth has not gone unremarked. The past year has brought unprecedented scrutiny and often harsh criticism of proprietary education from policy makers, regulators, and the news media.