ABSTRACT
Early in the 21st century American higher education enjoyed a combination of prestige and prosperity. This extended across all institutional categories and was buoyed by generous federal support in research and in student financial aid programs. Yet these gains tended to mask undercurrents of concern and vulnerability in the condition and character of colleges and universities. A warning to presidents and trustees was to avoid complacence, as the prestige and prosperity now were joined by problems. National reports such as the Delta Cost Project on Higher Education Spending declared that the decade from 2000 through 2010 was “turbulent” for colleges and universities. Diversity in admissions and the profiles of enrolling students failed to address schisms and exclusions within these increasingly diverse student bodies. Nor were colleges and universities and their prospective students exempt from the nationwide economic dislocations that surfaced around 2008. The result was by 2017 a period of reflection and reconsideration on institutional missions and operations.
