"The second one is ‘I accept the challenge and we can't get there from here.' That's a more fatalistic response," Jones said. "In order to get there, the United States and the individual states need a clear agenda. They need a fundamental change in the way they fund higher education."

 Daniel Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said a bleak economy hurts all states, though some indicators show an end to the recession. For the first time on record, states' overall spending declined for two consecutive years, shrinking 4.8 percent in 2009 and projected to decrease 4 percent this fiscal year, Hurley said.

 This climate has created two contradictory movements: Obama wants more college graduates, but states are mired in funding crises that reduce enrollments. "Enrollment capacity is a huge issue. Here in California, it's been tremendous at the UC and CSU systems - tens of thousands of students have been turned away and hundreds of thousands in the community colleges have been turned away because of capacity issues," Hurley said.

 Roderick Chu, chancellor emeritus of the Ohio Board of Regents and a past trustee of the College Board, said universities need to change their focus from "access" to "completion" goals. Colleges also need to stop looking at themselves as "gatekeepers" and adopt a "facilitator" mentality in getting students to graduate.

 "The fact is that the United States spends twice what the rest of the world does. However, our education results haven't changed while the rest of the world has been catching up. Ours is one of the few that has been falling in past decades," Chu said.