This book, an outgrowth of an earlier study undertaken in 1969 for the Illinois Board of Higher Education in connection with the preparation of a "Master Plan for Higher Education: Phase III," is a comprehensive analysis of the complex conditions which must be considered in order to make headway in providing higher educational opportunities for the poor, and in serving more fully the educational needs of the inner city; public higher education in Illinois is used to illustrate the analysis and to demonstrate the application of the approach and the feasibility of the kinds of solutions outlined. Chapters in the book deal with: the search for new ways to serve the poor, urban poverty, poverty policies, roles and routes for higher education, widening opportunities in higher education, sources of inequality, reducing the obstacles to opportunity, extending services to the poor, the professions and systemic reform, the campus and the climate of cooperation, and the generation of a statewide and metropolitan response to the problems of the poor. Appended are tables on poverty statistics nationally and on urbanization, poverty, and race in Illinois, and an example of how to get about organizing a child-care center. (RJ)