Publisher description: Forty years ago, North Carolina's Elon College was struggling to attract students and remain solvent. Today Elon has emerged as one of America's most desirable colleges. How did this transformation happen? What can other colleges and universities learn from Elon's remarkable turnaround? Taking a new approach to the study of higher education, George Keller examines the decisions made by Elon's administration, trustees, and faculty to transform a school with a limited endowment into a top regional university. Using Elon as a case study, Keller sheds light on high-stakes competition among America's colleges and universities -- where losers face contraction or closure and winners gain money, talented students, and top faculty