Article Summary on Higher Educaton

Article Summary on Higher Educaton

With the average cost of private college soaring-and with studies consistently showing American students falling behind their peers internationally-it's a question being asked more and more. And it's one that colleges are at a loss to fully answer. "Every college tries to do what it says in the brochures: 'to help students reach their full potential,'" says Derek Bok, former Harvard president and the author of Our Underachieving Colleges (www.usnews.com).

Although the government provides only 10 percent of the funding for all K-12 schools, it is responsible for 24 percent of all money spent ...