Unlike the Middle East or the housing industry, the next president will not face an immediate crisis in addressing the issue of higher education in the United States.

          But make no mistake, the next president, whether John McCain or Barak Obama, must address key issues in American higher education that will enable our country to continue to prosper at home and to provide leadership abroad.

          As Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel Corporation has said bluntly, "The economy of the future depends on the quality of our schools and the ability of our students to compete."

          Insisting on high academic standards is vital, but the new administration's agenda for higher education must encompass three much broader areas: 1) making a college education accessible to all; 2) closing the achievement gap for minority students; and 3) managing diversity.

          These challenges are by no means the sole province of government in our highly decentralized, public and private educational system. But meaningful progress will nonetheless require strong and sustained national leadership.

Costs are critical in making college accessible, and in recent years these costs have been increasing at twice the rate of inflation. As a result, the average graduate now leaves college with more than $19,000 in debt. As many as two million otherwise qualified students may not be able to afford college in this decade.

Income should no longer prevent any qualified student from gaining a college education or professional training. We need strong bipartisan support for expanding education tax credits, streamlining the financial aid process, reducing student-loan costs, and increasing Pell Grants for low-income students.

But accessibility is more than a matter of funding levels. We must build a culture of active, lifelong learning – in many ways contrarian to the pervasive pop culture of our time – that is essential for the preparation of the next generation of Americans to succeed in the 21st century.