In today's economy, access to postsecondary education or training has become the threshold requirement for individual career success. The increasing economic value of postsecondary education is good news in a society that strives to make economic opportunity subservient to individual merit, rather than family background. At the same time, the growing economic value of a postsecondary education is the source of new tensions among educators, government leaders and the business community. Since the society cannot afford all the postsecondary education it needs, there are growing pressures to produce postsecondary education cheaper, faster, and better. This article examines how higher education and business are converging to meet the needs of students entering the workforce.