The United States, the world's leader in producing college graduates 25 years ago, has fallen behind South Korea, Norway and the Netherlands.
Publishers say the prices of textbooks simply reflect the high costs of producing college texts.
(In a country where more than three hundred million people live on a dollar a day, producing college graduates can seem like a low priority).
The United States, for example, has lost its once-large lead in producing college graduates, and education remains the most successful jobs strategy in a globalized, technology-heavy economy.
Gainesville, after all, is a university town that until a few months ago was best known for producing college football champions, Gatorade and rockers like Tom Petty.
Her parents' sacrifices to educate their daughter explain how the country has managed to leap far ahead of the United States in producing college graduates over the last decade, with eight million Chinese now getting degrees annually from universities and community colleges.
The Dallas Cowboys have a new merchandising arm that recently jumped into the business of producing college-logo apparel for leading universities, but the Cowboys subsidiary has already encountered a stubborn opponent — student groups that contend it is using overseas sweatshops.
And we've made college more affordable, proposed an historic set of reforms and investments in community college, and set a goal of once again leading the world in producing college graduates by 2020.
Some majors even produced college graduates who, at mid-career, earned more than workers from other fields who went on to received a tertiary degree.
And, he argues, it produces college graduates who have no idea how their lives make sense except within this narrow track of achievement".
