Redefining Higher Education as an Engine of Opportunity

As widening equity gaps hamper social mobility and economic security for millions of young Americans today, higher education policy has reached an inflection point. College degree attainment has undeniably emerged as an essential asset for individual livelihoods and national prosperity. Yet the higher education system is falling short of its potential as an engine of opportunity due to soaring costs, inadequate structures of support for underrepresented students, mismatches between credentials and workforce needs, and more.

Fundamental reform is imperative. By confronting these systemic shortcomings through policy innovation centered on equity and alignment with public priorities, higher education can help restore pathways to economic security and civic participation. This article examines the landscape that policymakers face before outlining an actionable policy framework to make higher education work better for students, communities and the nation.

The Postsecondary Crossroads: Access Without Success

Over the past 50 years, high school graduation rates have risen from 50% to over 80%, fueling a monumental increase in postsecondary enrollment – from 5 million students in 1965 to over 20 million today [1]. This massification brought access for millions of lower- and middle-income Americans, affirming higher education‘s role as a gateway to economic security. Today, adults with a bachelor’s degree earn about $32,000 more annually than high school graduates [2].

However, these access expansions have not translated into equitable achievement. Stratospheric costs block educational opportunity – average tuition rose 169% from 1980 to 2021 [3]. Cost barriers intersect with systemic academic and social support gaps, fueling a completion crisis. Of students entering college, just 60% of students finish within six years, with equity gaps of 20+ percentage points by income and race [4].

The result? Mobility chokepoints:

• 65% of jobs require education beyond high school, while just 45% of Americans hold such credentials [1]
• Costs deter millions from enrolling or drive debilitating debt burdens
• Undermatching strands students in colleges below their academic capabilities
• Poor completion rates hinder social mobility amid a proliferating skills gap

These dynamics demand reforms that confront systemic inequality, perverse incentives, and mismatches embedded within structures of higher education today.

Postsecondary Enrollment and Attainment by Income Quintile

Data source: Postsecondary Value Commission

Policy Prescriptions to Make Higher Education Deliver on the Promise

Fundamentally rewiring higher education policy to confront barriers for lower-income and minoritized groups presents an economic and moral mandate. Critical needs span college affordability, student support structures promoting completion and democratizing credentials through skills-aligned pathways.

Affordability & Access

Free College

Eliminating tuition and fee costs through free college programs has emerged as a popular proposal, with over 200 such state and local initiatives launched already [5]. These enable students to enroll, persist and graduate debt-free. Early research shows substantial increases in enrollments under these programs, particularly among lower-income students.

However, most existing free college programs remain limited in scale or restrictiveness. The federal government can incentivize adoption of statewide universal free college programs. These initiatives must couple tuition-free access with adequate state funding and support structures to promote success without overburdens for students or institutions.

Need-Based Aid

Alongside free college efforts, need-based aid remains vital to making postsecondary education affordable, particularly at four-year universities where free tuition policies have yet to take hold. Pell grants once provided sufficient funding, covering 77% of costs at public four-year colleges [6]. But grants have failed to keep pace, now covering just 28% of costs, stranding low-income students without family resources [6].

Massive increases in Pell grants and supplemental state need-based aid programs are required. Aid eligibility calculations should account for total costs of attendance including books, housing, transportation, and living expenses alongside rising tuition. Streamlining the burdensome FAFSA process can also improve access and persistence among high-need students by reducing administrative barriers.

Loan Forgiveness

With 48 million federal student loan borrowers owing $1.75 trillion collectively, escalating calls for debt cancellation or forgiveness programs are well founded [7]. Income-based repayment plans with forgiveness components can alleviate unmanageable burdens while incentivizing public service.

Broad-based cancellation policies continue to lack political viability today due to costs as well as valid concerns around disproportionate benefits flowing to higher-income program participants. An incremental approach targeting forgiveness first toward borrowers earning less than median incomes or working in high-need occupations may balance equitability aims alongside fiscal constraints and political realities.

Promoting Success for All Learners

Simply expanding access without providing structures of academic, financial and social support has clearly failed historically underrepresented students. Policymakers must couple affordability measures with wraparound services empowering students to navigate personal, cultural and institutional barriers that drive completion gaps.

Evidence-Based Student Supports

Myriad evidence-based support programs have proven effective in improving outcomes, including cohort-based models, advisor mentoring, early warning systems leveraging predictive analytics, and more. Sustained investments to bring such high-impact programs to scale could narrow success gaps substantially.

State and federal funding incentives should encourage wider adoption of evidence-based programs while catalyzing continued innovation. Support structures specifically targeting groups facing systemic barriers, including first-generation students, student parents, justice-impacted individuals and others promise particularly high returns on investment.

Competency-Based Education

By allowing students to progress toward credentials based on demonstrated competencies rather than seat time, CBE providing flexible and personalized learning pathways shows immense promise in serving non-traditional students. Research shows CBE boosts completion rates by 20-50% while accelerating time to degree [8].

Clarifying outdated regulations inhibiting scaling innovative models like CBE should rank among the highest federal higher education priorities. Rapid expansion of CBE programs across workforce-aligned and technical disciplines at open-access institutions would pay dividends for learners and regional economies.

Aligning Credentials & Opportunity

A final priority area centers on building ladders of opportunity better connecting America‘s fragmented higher education ecosystem to regional labor markets.

Strategic expansion of technical programs with strong career pathways, institutional partnerships facilitating seamless transfer, skills-based hiring practices among regional employers and harmonizing licenses and certifications all represent untapped policy levers.

Progress on this front substantively expands higher education‘s value proposition while meeting the growing need for middle-skill workers. Here the collective action of employers, education leaders and policymakers remains indispensable.

Conclusion: Higher Education as an Anchor of Shared Prosperity

Higher education sits at the center of debates over America‘s future. For reformers, the polestar guiding policymaking should remain centered on higher education‘s potential as an engine of economic mobility and anchor of inclusive, dynamic and prosperous communities nationwide.

With visionary leadership, evidence-based policy innovation, cross-sector collaboration and public accountability, a reinvented higher education compact – rooted in the pursuit of human flourishing and national vitality – lies within reach. Now is the time for bold action to build such a system worthy of our highest aspirations.

1. Postsecondary Value Commission. (2021). Equitable Value: Promoting Economic Mobility and Social Justice through Postsecondary Education. https://www.postsecondaryvalue.org

2. Zaback, K., et al. (2022). Education Pays 2022: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. College Board. https://research.collegeboard.org

3. Ma, J. and Pender, M. (2021). Education Pays 2019: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. College Board. https://research.collegeboard.org

4. Shapiro, D. et al. (2019). Completing College: National by the Numbers 2019. National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. https://nscresearchcenter.org

5. The Campaign for Free College Tuition (2021). Free College Map & Database. https://freecollegenow.org/map

6. Delisle, J. and Dancy, K. (2021, October 18). The Pell Grant Is Not Keeping Pace with College Costs. New America. https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/pell-grant-not-keeping-pace-college-costs/

7. Friedman, Z. (2022, June 14). Student Loan Debt Statistics In 2022: A Record $1.75 Trillion. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2022/06/14/student-loan-debt-statistics-in-2022-a-record-175-trillion/

8. Public Agenda (2021). Public Support Grows for Competency-Based Education Programs. https://www.publicagenda.org/reports/public-support-grows-for-competency-based-education-programs/