For young people entering the twenty-first-century job market, high school graduation is no longer the finish line, but the starting line. While one-third of students will fail to graduate from high school, too many students who do graduate and make it to the postsecondary starting line find that they are underprepared for postsecondary work. A full 43 percent of those who begin postsecondary studies will fail to earn a degree after six years, and one of the major reasons is that far too many students receive inadequate preparation while in high school. This brief analyzes how improving America's high schools and better preparing students for the challenges of both college and the modern workplace can dramatically reduce the amount of wasted dollars spent on remediation in college. A table presenting savings and earnings benefits from a reduced need for remediation is appended. (Contains 2 footnotes and 32 endnotes.)