Colleges Column

Without an overhaul of higher-education funding systems, college enrollment will become increasingly stratified, warns a report issued this month by a national commission on higher-education finance.

Under the current system, affluent students will concentrate in expensive, competitive colleges, while low-income students will be relegated to less selective programs that may not lead to a bachelor's degree, says the report by the Commission on National Investment in Higher Education.

The report says college has become increasingly unaffordable as federal and state support of higher education has declined as a percentage of total college revenues over the past decade. At the same time,...