What's a college education worth these days? Amid rising costs of tuition and an economy still rebounding from recession, higher education consumers and observers are increasingly asking that question -- and with good reason.

Higher education is in very serious trouble. And its problems are not something that can be solved quickly, or without serious changes to the way that the system works.

Saving is not enough. Families must educate themselves about the college access process. Many Americans spend more time buying a car, yet the risk of a lemon is nothing compared to the risk of shackling their children with debt.

College does not pay simply by raising your job prospects. In a rapidly changing economy, college teaches the most valuable of lessons: how to keep teaching one's self for life.

Parents and students have several options that are worth serious consideration when it comes to managing the cost of higher education. The following six strategies have the potential to save a year or more of the cost of a college education today.

Much like the mortgage brokers who promised pain-free borrowing to homeowners just a few years back, many colleges don't offer warnings about student debt in the glossy brochures and pitch letters mailed to prospective students.

Does it give rise to the idea that even top colleges themselves cannot afford their own rising tuition? Does it provide more evidence to the argument that state universities and colleges are the way to go?

As a parent, I gasped at tuition bills. As a president, I wondered how I could possibly make ends meet. I've seen it from both sides now, and so let me provide you with a New Jersey response to the complaint that college costs too much: Shaddup.

As household incomes dwindle and job growth remains stagnant more Americans turn to higher education with the hope of increasing their slice of the American Dream, but in Florida the cost of that education is rising.

Collectively, college graduates now owe more than $1 trillion in student loans. Here are the top 10 states that held the most student loan debt per graduate at the end of the 2010 school year.

Technology offers us many opportunities to improve our output by customizing learning to individual needs, increasing productivity, expanding access, and most importantly, improving quality and affordability.

In California, students may be heard by administrators, but the administrators go ignored by politicians, and until universities can influence state appropriations, student self-governance means nothing.

The idea and notion of sacrificing for college with the promise of better employment options is being questioned. But in this economy -- despite the escalating costs -- college is a necessity.

In other countries, such as England and France, students have taken to the streets by the thousands to protest much smaller tuition increases. Where is that spirit here in America?

By Sara Murray, The Wall Street Journal Middle- and upper-class families opted for cheaper schools and more financial aid to send their children to...