Recommendations for improving educational quality and strengthening public confidence in American higher education are offered, based on the deliberations of the National Commission on Higher Education, which existed for 1 year and held four meetings. Areas of concern include: setting priorities for the institution and strengthening administrative leadership (leadership selection, and governance and centralization); strengthening the relationships of institutional officers and faculties with state officials and the governing board; enhancing quality and strengthening finance (state and federal responsibilities in financing higher education, private philanthropy, and parent and student contributions to financing college studies); and assuring standards (accreditation systems, improving undergraduate degree programs, tenure and post-tenure evaluation, faculty salaries, and collective bargaining). The recommendations highlight the importance of: trustee support of priorities established for resource allocation; the methods of recruiting and selecting top administrators; assuring that students attending college demonstrate mastery of the basic skills; responding to the mandate for professional continuing education and the needs of adult learners; faculty tenure as a means to protect academic freedom; and increasing faculty salaries based on merit. (SW)