An understanding of today's undergraduate college students is vital to the effectiveness of our nation's colleges and universities. As Generation on a Tightrope clearly reveals, today's students need a very different education than the undergraduates who came before them: an education for the 21st Century, which colleges and universities are so far ill-equipped to offer and which will require major changes of them to provide. Examining college student expectations, aspirations, academics, attitudes, values, beliefs, social life, and politics, this book paints an accurate portrait of today's students. Timely and comprehensive, this volume offers educators, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and employers guidance and a much-needed grasp of the forces shaping the experiences of current undergraduates. The book: * Is based on completely new research of 5,000 college students and student affairs practitioners from 270 diverse college campuses * Explores the similarities and differences between today's generation of students and previous generations