President Obama's higher education goal is to provide "every American with a quality higher education--whether it's college or technical training." The work must begin now, despite the current economic downturn, since Americans believe that doing so is critical to the future competitiveness of their nation. In this article, the authors describe the role four-year colleges and universities, particularly public research universities, can play in reaching the President's goal. They discuss how higher education can increase graduation rates and describe ways to measure and reduce the cost per degree while maintaining educational quality. (Contains 9 figures and 10 resources.)