(Source: Tulane University)

If you find yourself watching the NCAA basketball tournament this week, you'll likely witness the debut of a new ad campaign aimed at educating the public about the value of higher education. The American Council on Education, along with some corporate and foundation partners, has created a public-awareness campaign titled "Solutions for the Future." A related website can be found here.

This bit comes from the Chronicle of Higher Education:

If higher-education officials have their way, their concerns about the availability of public funds and college access will be as familiar to Americans as Coca-Cola, thanks to two national advertising campaigns set to kick off this year.

One, unveiled on Tuesday and scheduled to begin this month, is aimed at bolstering the image of higher education with the public. A second campaign by the Ad Council, scheduled to start in August, will focus on increasing access to college for students from low-income families and minority students.

Television viewers will start to see the fruits of the first campaign on Thursday, when public-service announcements on the importance of higher education will be shown during coverage of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's basketball championships on CBS and ESPN. Fox Broadcasting Company will also run the advertisements on its cable and broadcast networks this month. Radio and newspaper ads are set to follow.

According to the leaders of this effort, which is being spearheaded by the American Council on Education and has been dubbed "Solutions for Our Future," the television spots are meant to convey, in a humorous way, the concrete benefits that colleges provide to the quality of life and well-being of the nation.

You can read the rest here, and catch Inside Higher Ed's take on it here.