Though America's top colleges and universities are among the best in the world, the majority of America's nearly 2,500 four-year colleges and universities are struggling to keep up. According to the Times of London, seven of the top 10 universities in the world are located in the United States, with Harvard ranked number one. After that, our competitiveness drops rapidly, with less than half of the top 25 schools located in the United States and just 35 of the top 100. With three out of every seven universities in the world here in America, the United States is clearly underrepresented at the top.

Various supporting data confirm higher education's problems. For example: A study by the American Research Institutes, supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, found that only 38 percent of all students at four-year colleges and universities were proficient in reading and understanding such things as newspaper editorials, just 40 percent were proficient in completing documents such as job applications, and only 35 percent were proficient in quantitative tasks such as balancing a checkbook or understanding the terms of a car loan described in a newspaper ad.

The source of this problem is not money. Annual expenditures on U.S. higher education exceed $300 billion. Taxpayers provide a substantial portion of these funds. Alumni and other donors provide another substantial portion - more than $28 billion a year. The question many are asking is: Are we getting our money's worth?

The Center for Excellence in Higher Education believes the answer is "no." Through effective philanthropy, due diligence, proper governance, and management accountability, however, America's colleges and universities can be transformed into high-performing institutions that prepare today's students to be tomorrow's leaders.

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