States are faced with the difficult challenge of increasing college completion rates at a time of historic budget shortfalls. While most agree that increasing the education level of U.S. citizens is essential to future economic prosperity (and public revenue collection), institutions will need to meet the goal through the more efficient use of existing resources. The push to increase postsecondary productivity has become a national effort led by foundations such as Lumina Foundation of Education and policy think tanks like the Delta Cost Project. These national leaders believe that states can redeploy their limited resources in ways that can result in increased college completion. This issue of "The Progress of Education Reform" summarizes recent research that may challenge conventional wisdom on how and where public resources for postsecondary education should be dedicated in an effort to increase college completion rates. Questions examined include: (1) How did changes in enrollments and the allocation of resources result in declining college completion rates in the United States? (2) Does shifting enrollments to community colleges save money in the long run? and (3) Can investments in student services rather than instruction increase college completion?