The lowering of higher education in America : why student loans should be based on credit worthiness / Jackson Toby.

Originally published: Santa Barbara, Calif. : Praeger, ©2010. This edition includes a new preface and afterword.

1. How colleges undermine high school education -- Behavior of American high school students -- Why inadequately prepared students want to attend college and why colleges admit them -- Entitlement to higher education : an international perspective -- Is universal "access" such a good idea? -- 2. Maximizing access to college maximizes the enrollment of underprepared students -- What do colleges do with underprepared students? -- What can be learned from the CCNY experiment? -- Undemanding courses for underprepared students -- Juggling underprepared and excellent students -- 3. How grade inflation undermines academic achievement -- Is grade inflation really occurring, and if so, does it matter? -- The underlying causes of grade inflation -- The consequences of grade inflation -- 4. Goofing off at college -- Why do students enroll in college? -- Having fun at college -- Creature comforts at college -- What do students actually do at college? -- Low admission and retention standards encourage goofing off.

5. Is college graduation enough for a good job, or do college graduates have to know something? -- The earnings premium for college graduates -- Which college graduates have low earnings? -- Should public policy attempt to maximize learning in college? -- 6. The perils of the financial aid labyrinth -- Old-fashioned scholarships as incentives to prepare intellectually for college -- The shift from private scholarships to Federal Financial Aid -- Why colleges need Financial Aid Offices : processing grants and loans -- Unintended consequences : diplomas to nowhere and defaulted loans -- 7. How a change in public policy can improve American college education -- The case against making all Federal Aid to college students an entitlement -- The HOPE scholarship experiment -- The case for academic requirements for student loans : an incentive for better performance -- Will the financial incentive work?