41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540-5237 Fall 2009 Fall 2009 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540-5237 PAID HAMMOND, IN PERMIT #197 Fall 2009 Fall 2009 Princeton University Press Princeton University Press Information for Booksellers Information for Individuals C ONTENTS A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR c/o California / Princeton Domestic discount codes are: New Jersey residents include 7% sales n TRADE 1 Fulfillment Services, Inc. T=Trade; S=Short; J=Special series; tax. California residents include 9.25% A great editor once said that good publishing is always about 1445 Lower Ferry Road X=Text sales tax. Canadian customers add n NATURAL HISTORY 28 something. At Princeton, what we’re about is meeting the challenge Ewing, NJ 08618 5% GST. 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Phone (312) 341 9305 the Caribbean For further information please contact Fax (312) 341 9308 Craig Falk n AUTHOR / TITLE INDEX 120 Tim Wilkins by calling (609) 258 4877 [email protected] 311 Dean Drive or e-mailing [email protected] n ORDER INFORMATION Rockville, MD 20851 Cover art: Edward Koren, © 2008. From the book California & Nevada Phone (301) 838 9276 Animal Spirits, by George A. Akerlof & Peter J. Dougherty, Director Robert J. Shiller (see page 27). Bob Rosenberg Fax (301) 838 9278 2318 32nd Avenue [email protected] San Francisco, CA 94116 Phone (415) 564 1248 Fax (415) 564 6020 [email protected] press.princeton.edu Trade 1 Crossing the Finish Line WHY SO MANY OF AMERICA’S PUBLIC UNIVERSITY Completing College at America’s Public Universities STUDENTS ARE NOT GRADUATING— AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingos & Michael S. McPherson Long revered for their dedication to equal opportunity and affordability, public universities play a crucial role in building our country’s human capital. And yet—a sobering fact—less than 60 percent of the students entering four-year colleges in America today are graduating. Why is this happening and what can be done? Crossing the Finish Line, the most important book on higher education to appear since The Shape of the River, pro- vides the most detailed exploration ever of the crisis of college completion at America’s public universities. This groundbreak- ing book sheds light on such serious issues as dropout rates linked to race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Probing graduation rates at twenty-one flagship pub- lic universities and four statewide systems of public higher education, the authors focus on the progress of students in the entering class of 1999—from entry to graduation, transfer, or withdrawal. They examine the effects of parental educa- tion, family income, race and gender, high school grades, test scores, financial aid, and characteristics of universities attended (especially their selectivity). The conclusions are “Crossing the Finish Line provides a new compelling: minority students and students from poor fami- and rich source of data. Highly original, lies have markedly lower graduation rates—and take longer the book is by far the most detailed to earn degrees—even when other variables are taken into examination ever made of the socio- account. Noting the strong performance of transfer students economic factors that go into explain- and the effects of financial constraints on student retention, ing differential rates of public college the authors call for improved transfer and financial aid poli- cies, and suggest ways of improving the sorting processes that attendance and completion.” match students to institutions. —David W. Breneman, Batten School of An outstanding combination of evidence and analysis, Leadership and Public Policy, University Crossing the Finish Line should be read by everyone who cares of Virginia about the nation’s higher education system. William G. Bowen is president emeritus of the Andrew W. Mel- lon Foundation and Princeton University. Matthew M. Chingos is a PhD student in the Department of Government at Harvard University and research associate at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Michael S. McPherson is president of the Spencer Foundation and former president of Macalester College. SEPTEMBER Cloth $27.95T 978-0-691-13748-3 392 pages.