The United States no longer leads the world in college completion rates. Inequality in college access rates by income have barely narrowed over the last 25 to 30 years and inequality in college completion rates have narrowed even less. The groups in the population that are growing the most rapidly are those that have historically been underrepresented in higher education. What types of federal policies might help to address these issues in the face of tuition levels at private colleges and universities that have risen for over a century by an average of 2 to 3.5 percent a year more than the rate of inflation and tuition levels at public colleges and university that have recently risen at similar rates. And why does tuition keep rising and can anything be done about that? Improving undergraduate access and persistence through to graduation is not the only goal for higher education policy. We should seek to improve, or at least maintain, the quality of higher education. In this paper, the author proposes policy considerations for enhancing student access and persistence in a world in which tuition keeps rising.