Improving Student Success, Increasing Opportunity

A college education offers the chance to achieve the American dream. But an important article in today's New York Times shows that fewer people at the bottom of the income scale are getting college degrees. The opportunity gap between the rich and everyone else is widening.

Part of the problem is that just having access to a college education isn't enough. Too many students don't finish college. One study found a startling 44 percent of Pell Grant student aid recipients don't have a degree or are unenrolled six years after starting college. And nearly half of all community college students don't return after one year of school.

A cause here is that colleges aren't offering the support or the classes students need to stay in school. And Congress is working to help fix this problem right now. Different versions of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which has now passed the House and Senate, include new programs that fit the needs of students that are prone to leaving college early, particularly adult learners, students in remedial classes, and laid-off workers who're returning to school.

A program that's in the House bill would set up what're called "student successs services," which have been shown to help students finish college. The Senate bill has a closely related program that rewards non-remedial students for getting good grades with extra money to pay for living expenses. These two programs complement -but shouldn't replace- each other because they affect different populations.

Two other programs in the House bill help make classes more meaningful to students. A Bridges from Jobs to Careers program would ensure that students in remedial education are in classes that are in line with their career goals. A Business Workforce Partnerships program would enable colleges to create pathways between educational programming and changing local job markets.

Both bills contain other important programs and adjustments, including, as Shawn wrote, streamlining the Pell Grant application process. By no means do these changes solve the entire problem. But the programs are a necessary step toward building an economy that makes opportunity available for all. Communities have to rally behind students to make the promise of a college education real.