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It was long ago that American Higher Education held a very prestigious place among all countries in the world. Today there is a significant loss of competitive edge in public and private colleges as compared to foreign institutions. One of the most important areas that our institutions are losing out to the for-profit colleges is in advertising. There is a severe loss of control due to bad ranking system choices.

There is a sense of urgency and higher education scenario in America has turned critical. With a few innovative thinking, situation can be reversed and brought back under control.
One of the first aspects to look into is to raise the age limit for compulsory education. It is important to give children leverage at least till the age of 19 to complete their high school education. This is one area where student drop outs can be controlled. Adding in a year of post secondary education is a good idea.

Doing this provides immense benefits. Students who enter colleges are stable and sustained. This was proposed recently by President Obama where he requested every American citizen to commit a year of their lives for extra education either in a four year school, community college, apprenticeship or vocational training.

An interesting scheme which is already in existence in certain states is those who complete their graduation well in advance are paid a scholarship amount which is equal to what is spent by a pupil till they are nineteen. This encourages students to pursue and complete their education in advance freeing up vital space in high schools for other students.

Advertising effectively and in a creative manner is very important to encourage more students to join. Advertising both online and offline is the only method by which government and state run colleges and universities can compete with the private for-profit educational institutions.
Truancy can be curbed using pressure tactics. Truants usually go on to drop out. With the co-operation of parents and with persuasive truant officers, this initiative could gain momentum and produce results.

The responsibility of ranking universities and colleges must strictly be given to the Department of Education by unsealing the accreditation reports of colleges.  Peer institution representatives prepare accreditation reports after serious evaluation which usually contains all the important information required by the student to evaluate and make a decision about schools and colleges.
It is possible to get more number of qualified applicants to apply for courses in higher education. For this, the quality of education at the public school level has to be improved to a great extent and parents have to play a major role here ensuring their children are educated enough.

Here again President Obama has taken a vital initiative by requesting parents to give more attention to their children’s home work and studies rather than allowing them to spend their time playing video games. There is also a move to make classes smaller and teachers better. Providing financial assistance to struggling parents to enable them to focus on development of their children is a part of the initiative.

The brand of American higher education is precious and it is worth taking every effort in preserving it.