Community Colleges and the Access Effect takes on one of the community college world's most sacred principles - that every student with a high school diploma or GED equivalent should have the opportunity to enter college. In carefully researched detail, two community college educators present a convincing case for why the open door to college admission must be eased closed and what must be done academically, politically, and financially to bring about this critically needed reform. Describing how the practice of open college admission developed and how the nature of the college student has changed over the century that it has been in effect, Scherer and Anson argue that raising the minimum requirements for college entry and enforcing existing Federal Student Aid regulations will make better use of public funds, strengthen academic programs, increase secondary student engagement, improve student completion rates, and protect unprepared students.