College, we can’t afford you. Tuition at many of America’s top schools now tops $50,000, living expenses easily add another $15,000, and course materials and transportation push the costs even higher. Millennials are so overburdened with debt they are saving nothing, and delaying having children, getting married, and buying houses.

But while many ideas are dead-ends, there is a solution: innovation. The good news is a small group of college presidents and higher education innovators are building credible pathways to reducing costs and improving outcomes for students.

These programs are providing high quality education at radically affordable price points. They have the potential to align curriculum with the needs of the workforce. Their focus on outcomes could move the entire industry away from an insular focus on prestige to a real engagement with helping students succeed. And yet, NAICU suggests that collusion is the answer to what ails college; pandering politicians offer to make college free.

The real solution is innovation around business models and instructional models, and as we point out in a recent policy brief, there is much that Congress can do to support innovators.

Read the full article about trying to solve college cost conundrums by Alana Dunagan at Christensen Institute.