"Research and the Bottom Line" talks about corporate funding of university research being used primarily to further corporate personal interests. "Are Colleges Worth the Price" discusses how universities are diverting faculty and presidents towards unnecessary postgraduate programs (i.e. research centers and institutes that receive outside funding). Both of these essays imply a need for scrutiny of funding and the divergence from quality instruction in university education. In "Are Colleges Worth the Price," some schools, such as the University of Mississippi, that were listed as exceptions to the failing higher ed. system, were listed partly because of the diversity around the school and it is also mentioned in the conclusion of the paper that college should be a cultural journey as well as an intellectual one. This emphasis on diversity serves as a similarity between "Are Colleges Worth the Price" and "Linking Diversity with the Educational and Civic Missions of Higher Education." While there are many individual similarities between certain essays, there a greater concept that is present amongst each of the six essays.
A key concept that is present in all six essay is the concept of promoting active, free thinking. "Inventing the University" and "What is Academic Writing?" display this concept by discussing the need of active thinking to read, comprehend, and write complex texts. "Linking Diversity" expresses that universities must push past embedded belief systems in students to fully teach diversity and, as a result, encourage free thinking as well. "Are Colleges Worth the Price" promotes active, free thinking through concepts of engaging students, and challenging them to use their minds. "Research and the Bottom Line" more directly discusses that universities should support free thinking rather than guided thinking from corporate-funded research institutes.