This paper discusses outsourcing as one solution to the college cost crisis. It is not presented as the solution; rather, it is put forth as an attractive strategy characterized by minimal financial and programmatic risk. To explore the basic policy considerations associated with outsourcing, this paper briefly reviews why institutions consider outsourcing, the current use and trends among institutions implementing outsourcing as a management strategy, potential new areas for outsourcing, the challenges associated with outsourcing, solutions to address those challenges, and approaches for institutions considering outsourcing. The authors present case examples to support outsourcing as one solution to the strategy of college cost containment, including examples of cost savings and service delivery improvements experienced by several institutions who implemented one or more outsourcing solutions. Following a Foreword by Robert C. Dickeson, senior vice president for policy and organizational learning at Lumina Foundation for Education, this document contains: (1) Outsourcing of Non-Mission-Critical Functions: A Solution to the Rising Cost of College Attendance (Mary F. Bushman and John E. Dean); (2) Seven steps: Ways to Reduce Instructional Costs and Improve Undergraduate and Graduate Education (Bill Coplin); (3) Improving Quality and Reducing Costs: The Case for Redesign (Carol A. Twigg); (4) Shared Solutions: The Kansas Perspective (Lana Oleen, Debra Hollon and Diane Lindeman); (5) Avoiding a Collision Course: A State Policy Agenda for Increasing High School Students' College Readiness (Kristin D. Conklin); (6) A Question of Effectiveness: Michigan's Solutions to the College Cost Issue (Timothy M. Kuehnlein Jr. and Olin Joynton); (7) Approaching the Dilemma from Both Sides: PROMISE Credits for Young Students and Creating an Environment Conducive to Controlling Costs (Sandy Baum); (8) Tipping Point: Controlling College Textbook Prices (Merriah S. Fairchild); (9) Other Ideas of Note: Thoughts on Cost-Cutting Gleaned from Unpublished Essays (Corinne Wohlford Taff); and (10) Toward a New Way of Thinking: Quality, Productivity and College Costs (Dewayne Matthews). The document concludes with a list of the experts comprising the National Editorial Advisory Panel.