UNIVERSITIES ARE FAILING AT THEIR MISSION.

Reason's Katherine Mangu-Ward says as much.

Students arrive on campus underqualified, courtesy of an American public school system that has flatlined in quality while tripling its per-student cost. They do less academic work yet receive better grades than their parents did. And their post-college job prospects are dim, with unemployment rates for recent grads hovering at 12 percent.

These wounds are largely self-inflicted, and thus eminently correctable. A problem largely created by government’s distorting money and politics would improve rapidly with its withdrawal.

There's an accompanying symposium, "Where Higher Education Went Wrong," with a number of Reason's usual contributors offering their suggestions.