The American Dream — it’s a term we have difficulty defining these days. In general, our nation believes that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can build a better life for yourself and your family.

We’ve heard the success stories. We’ve read the 800-page biographies of American heroes who come from nothing and quickly make themselves rich, famous and loved.

In the past, the American Dream was accessible to all. There were many unique paths that reached it. There were varying ages that found it. You could become a war hero, a doctor, an actor or a U.S. Senator in the most creative ways.

Times have changed. Today, there is primarily one way to achieve the American Dream — through education.

Education once meant reading books, hiring a private tutor or going off to an aristocratic boarding school. This is no longer the case. The 21st century education is on a more equalized playing field. Students attend public universities and can find financial assistance from all levels of government. Public universities are the gateway to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

However, there is reason for alarm.

Higher education is facing one of its largest crises in a century as more and more Americans attend college and costs rise exponentially.

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings captured this predicament Tuesday by asking, “Is it ‘fine’ that college tuition has outpaced inflation, family income, even doubling the cost of health care? Is it ‘fine’ that only half of our students graduate on-time? Is it ‘fine’ that students often graduate so saddled with debt they can’t buy a home or start a family?”

The answer to all of these questions is a resounding no.

Spellings should know best as an education policy maker and a mother with a daughter enrolled in college.

Now it’s time for finger pointing. Who is to blame for allowing our public universities to reach this all-time low? Who is to blame for cheating citizens out of the American Dream they deserve?

The answer: state governments and university administrators.

Over the past few decades, state governments around the country have kept higher education funded at constant levels even though inflation has drastically increased and a greater number of students attend state universities. Legislative leaders will be quick to blame this problem on a shortage of funding even though it’s a simple matter of priority.

University administrators are equally to blame for this crisis. Most public universities have decided to shift the financial burden to students and families as they continue to build grandiose administrative buildings and raise professors’ six-digit salaries. My favorite excuse from a provost is, “We must raise tuition so that we can remain competitive with other universities.”

What do you think the other university provosts are saying? They utter the same babble.

The truth has become apparent. State governments are too selfish and too unaccountable to educate their citizens through public universities without a higher authority watching over them.

The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the states the right to educate their own citizenry as they please. However, the federal government has a responsibility to ensure civil rights, national security and the American Dream. I applaud Secretary Spellings and the U.S. Department of Education for coming to rescue our public universities.

This rescue started one year ago when Secretary Spellings formed the U.S. Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Its purpose was “to launch a robust national dialogue on the vital issues of accessibility, affordability and accountability.” The commission was bipartisan and included leaders in business and education — even our own former N.C. Governor Jim Hunt.

The commission had some startling findings:

— Forty percent of college students will take at least one remedial-education course, at a cost of more than $1 billion yearly.

— From 1995 to 2005, average tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities rose 51 percent after adjusting for inflation.

— State funding growth for higher education has fallen to its lowest level in more than two decades.

— The percentage of college graduates deemed proficient in prose literacy has declined from 40 to 31 percent in the past decade.

Secretary Spellings’ bold initiative to extend No Child Left Behind to high school, cut-down the financial aid paperwork, increase student funds and create a national university database is just what our nation needs.

The same state governments and university administrators who lead us into this higher education crisis should work with the federal government to get us out of it.

Here’s to saving the American Dream!

E-mail Forrest at [email protected].