"Thanks to Scott MacDonald for his fact finding on the sources of the exploding costs of an American college education and our country's historic lending practices that have thwarted a financially unincumbered future through education for so many of our youth. The personal stories, starting with the author's own, are alternately heartbreaking and uplifting motivators for U.S. citizens to individually and collectively rethink the financing of higher education and consider his 9 sets of suggested "what must be done" actions to enable our citizenry to realize the American dream of a better life through higher education while escaping crippling debt and paying it forward as educated leaders of our future society."--Jacqueline Thousand, California State University San Marcos "This book by imaginative philanthropist-businessman Scott MacDonald tackles one of the hottest issues of the recent presidential campaign: the explosion of student debt. Blending smart analysis of its causes with humanizing and empathic stories of the burden this debt places on student futures and lives, MacDonald argues for a mixed plate of solutions that are built on his own creative approach to philanthropy. That approach, which leaves students better off and better people than when MacDonald finds them, is one worth replicating across the country. A must-read for those interested in how to build public-private solutions to one of our nation's most pressing issues.

"--Lauren Robel, Executive Vice President and Provost, Indiana University "The MacDonald Scholarships are another fantastic opportunity for our students at Carolina to receive an excellent education and serve the public good. This book tells Scott MacDonald's story and the story of so many students across the country who are struggling with the burden of college debt. Institutions of higher education must address this critical problem so that our universities can continue to be engines for economic mobility. We are glad that Carolina's commitment to access and affordability, and in particular the stories of our students and programs like the Carolina Covenant, is included in these pages"--Kevin Guskiewicz, Chancellor of The University of North Carolina.