The authors describe cross-decades changes in the achievement attitudes and behaviors of average U. S. undergraduates that parallel the declines in meaningful learning reported by Arum and colleagues. Comparisons of pre-1987 and 2004-8 students on seven achievement-predictive measures revealed that (a) average 2004-8 undergraduates scored substantially below the pre-1987 undergraduate mean on all seven measures, (b) 2004-8 undergraduate means differed from pre-1987 high school means on only one measure, and (c) pre-1987 undergraduate means matched 2004-8 graduate student means on six of seven measures. The authors consider the impacts of student behavioral changes on university teaching, identify faculty adaptations that have contributed to the decline in meaningful learning, and argue that improvement in meaningful learning will require methods which effectively persuade more students to embrace sustained effort as their new norm despite their tendencies to prefer and expect an easier path.