The U.S. system of higher education is widely considered the world's best. A college education【C1】______substantial benefits—about $20,000 per year【C2】______extra earnings over the course of a lifetime.【C3】______. according to a recent survey, 57 percent of Americans think higher education is not a good value,【C4】______they know how much it boosts earning power. And with the cost of many state universities【C5】______. the perceptions that college is too expensive for most people are【C6】______. Clearly, higher education officials must think harder about affordability—including not only more scholarship money but also lower costs and higher【C7】______One promising idea is the three-year degree which enables students to spend【C8】______. And they would have an extra year of work to pay the costs of education. There are many【C9】______approaches to the three-year degree: Schools can make it easier for students to【C10】______college credit earned in high school; they can fashion programs that【C11】______nearly four years of credits into three years, making use of summer and online learning; they can consider a more focused and streamlined curriculum. What all such【C12】______assume is that universities and colleges could make more intensive use of resources that often lie idle for much of the year under the【C13】______pattern. But up to now, only a handful of schools offered three-year degree【C14】______. Colleges and universities prefer to【C15】______the four-year model because of powerful economic incentives. Most won't offer a three-year option【C16】______those incentives change. That may be starting to happen: The recent budget proposal by Ohio Governor John Kasich requires the state's public univer sities to prepare【C17】______to offer three-year undergraduate degrees. It probably will take successful innovation by one or more large state systems to【C18】______change nationwide. Perhaps federal aid to universities or the schools' participation in the student loan program could be partly conditioned on offering a three-year degree option. Today's students have the ability to acquire and【C19】______knowledge faster than any previous generation,【C20】______technology. Higher education needs to catch up.