This report presents Washington State's Master Plan for building a higher education system that addresses change in four fundamental elements: accessing education in urban areas; developing a new higher education funding process; evaluating institutional performance; and strengthening admissions standards. The Master Plan recommends the following: (1) enhanced service to four underserved urban areas of the state: Vancouver, the Tri-Cities, Spokane, and Puget Sound region; (2) a new funding approach that does not require lowering admission standards in order to maintain funding; (3) surveys to gauge graduate and employer satisfaction as well as a search for a nationally normed test of student computation, communication, and critical thinking skills to show how well individual institutions and the system as a whole are performing; and (4) the creation of admission policies that attempt to match student needs and abilities with the appropriate institution. The report concludes with a summary of goals, actions, and recommendations for enhancing the quality of Washington State's higher education. Appendices provide information on the Master Plan process and previous planning efforts, higher education participation rates county by county, details of the Stability Adequacy and Focused Excellence funding processes, and guidelines for service to Spokane. (GLR)