Great essay Mike. One minor corrective, Community Colleges (or Junior Colleges) were set up to only issue a two year associate degree (AA), but then they made it easy to transfer seamlessly into a four year college offering the BA. By the way, some 4 years (specially those with graduate schools) were still debating the GI Bill when I got there in the 60s, with many misreading the data and claiming that the education of the unwashed was a mistake. As you suggest, all higher ed, including and especially JCs, need a complete revitalization, starting with the way it is financed. Not to mention totally new systems of learning.