ABSTRACT
Over the past three decades, radical changes have occurred in public policies that alter the ways colleges are fi nanced and students pay for college from those of a long, progressive tradition in U.S. higher education. A stratifi ed market system of higher education has evolved in most states. The primary sorting criteria in this system are students’ abilities and achievements defi ned by where they attended high school. States have adjusted their educational and school fi nance strategies by raising the standards for high school graduation, but these policies have not equalized opportunities to prepare for college.
