The United States is in a bind. On the one hand, it needs millions of additional citizens with at least one year of successful post-secondary experience to adapt to the knowledge economy. The Gates and Lumina Foundations, as well as President Obama have championed this goal in different ways. On the other hand, it has a post-secondary system that is trapped between rising costs, falling appropriations, and stagnant effectiveness, seemingly unable to respond effectively to this challenge. This paper analyzes several aspects of this problem, describes changes in the society that create the basis for solutions, and offers several examples from Kaplan University of emerging practices that suggest what good practice might look like in a world where quality-assured mass higher education is the norm. (Contains 4 figures.)