Although there is widespread public faith in the value of higher education, the progress of massifcation has been slow and uneven.

虽然公众普遍相信高等教育的价值，但大众化的进程一直是缓慢而不均衡的。

And why is it slow and uneven?

为什么大众化的进程是缓慢而不均衡的?

Well, one, higher education did not admit significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities until after the civil rights of the 1960s forced change.

首先，高等教育并没有接纳大量的种族和少数民族，直到20世纪60年代的民权迫使改变。

Second, despite significant expenditures on financial aid, minority and low income individuals are still less likely to attend college than whites or students from middle-and upper-income families.

其次，尽管在经济援助上有大量支出，但少数族裔和低收入个人上大学的可能性仍低于白人或来自中高收入家庭的学生。

Although access gaps have nowadays narrowed somewhat, large gaps remain between completion rates.

虽然现在入学差距有所缩小，但在学业完成率方面仍然存在很大的差距。

Low-income students come to college less prepared, and must balance academic demands with work and family responsibilities.

低收入家庭的学生上大学时准备不足，必须在学业需求与工作和家庭责任之间取得平衡。

Finding ways to increase the enrollment rates of low-income students and encourage their success once enrolled are two of the most important problems facing American higher education.

如何提高低收入家庭学生的入学率，鼓励他们在入学后取得成功，是美国高等教育面临的两个最重要的问题。

One of the challenges to meet these goals is that they can conflict with the other central tenets of American higher education.

实现这些目标的挑战之一是，它们可能与美国高等教育的其他核心原则相冲突。

That is market competition and resistance to government control, as I said before.

这就是市场竞争和对政府控制的抵制，就像我之前说的。

For example, institutional competition for the most academically talented students is likely to encourage increased use of tuition discounting for students who have no financial need,

例如，为争夺最有学术天赋的学生而进行的机构竞争，可能会鼓励