Thanks to Rosie, our university librarian, for dropping this one on my desk. Authored by David F. Labaree in 2017, it details the history of post-secondary education in the United States. From its humble beginnings as a venue for the development of the clergy to a world class system of research universities.
Over this period of a couple of hundred years, the massification of the university, resulting in huge social opportunity gain has resulted in a rising cost to society. Undergraduate education is seen as almost universal now and in order to maintain the finances of the system, institutions are turning to increased graduate enrolment (particularly at the professional masters level) and international enrolment.