Goal 2025: For 60 of Americans to Hold College Degrees Part II

A recipe for economic stagnation & social regression. Part II of a II-Part Series on Texas Higher Education By Jamie Merisotis Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Lets look at some of the numbers here in Texas. According to the most recent Census figures 34.5 of the states working-age residents that is Texans between ages 25 and 64 ― have at least a two-year college degree. Here in the Austin metro area the attainment rate is actually higher at 47.5. Still in either case youre a long way from 60.   There has been progress in the state to be sure. A year ago just 33.7 percent of working-age Texans had degrees so youre moving in the right direction. But like most of the nation youre moving at a crawl. In fact if progress continues at the same pace until 2025 Texas wont even reach a college-attainment rate of 40 percent by that date. This is the national average today. And that my friends is a recipe for economic stagnation and social regression. Among Latinos the youngest and the fastest-growing population group in Texas the college-attainment rate is an abysmal 17.2 percent. tweet this The sobering statistics dont end there. Lets tease apart that 34.5 percent college-attainment rate a bit. According to the Census data 44.6 percent of white working-age Texans hold at least a two-year degree. Among Native Americans in the state the figure is just 32.5 percent; among African-Americans its lower still: just 28.5 percent. And among Latinos ― statistically the youngest and the fastest-growing population group in Texas … in other words the living breathing future of the state the college-attainment rate is an abysmal 17.2 percent. As worrisome as these gaps in college attainment are there is an added equally troubling trend in recent national data that focuses on young adults ― those between the ages of 25 and 29. Attainment rates for both Asians and whites in this age group are significantly higher than for the 30-and-above population. However the same is not true for African Americans Latinos or Native Americans. In short we are doing no better with our younger students of color than we did for their parents. And for young men of color were doing even worse. Lets take one more cut at the college-attainment numbers … not along the lines of race and ethnicity but according to income and class. Consider just three facts:

• Fact Number One: Data from the 2010 Census show that four out of five 24-year-olds in the highest income quartile have a four-year college degree. Among those in the lowest income quartile barely one in 10 can make that claim.
• Fact Number Two: 67 of entering freshmen in the class of 2010 at the 200 most selective colleges came from the top income quartile; only 15 came from the bottom half.
• And Fact Number Three: The share of students from the bottom income quartile at the 200 most selective colleges has been stuck at less than 5 for the past 20 years.

Part I of a II-Part Series on Texas Higher Education.

The main message in all of these facts and statistics is as clear as it is disturbing: There are massive gaps in educational achievement in this country linked to race and class … persistent and pernicious inequities that have plagued us for decades and that we simply cannot allow to continue. The stakes are just too highnot merely for those people who are directly affected by these inequities but for every employer who needs skilled workers … for every citizen who stands to benefit from the economic and social progress that education brings … in short for all of us as a nation. After several years of intense engagement in this work we at Lumina are absolutely convinced that the 60 percent goal is achievable and we see at least the outlines of the path that will lead us there. But were also acutely aware of an unavoidable truth: We cant reach the goal by conducting business as usual. For the state to address the equity imperative and reach its college-attainment goals Texas indeed the entire nation must have a preeminent higher education system. And that system simply cant be a clone of the one thats now in place. It needs to be a redesigned system one that is flexible affordable and quality-focused to properly serve the needs of students employers and the states civic and social well-being. This redesigned system must deliver high-quality education to the growing numbers of low-income first-generation minority and adult students who represent our future as a nation. And it must do so with a specific eye toward what the state needs to thrive economically and socially. In other words higher education must be retooled so that it is both more affordable and more productive. It must become a truly student-centered system ― one that ensures access to all types of students gives those students the support they need to succeed and enables them to earn credentials that demonstrate real/relevant learning. At Lumina were working to visualize and realize this system ― and were not alone in this effort. Texas is home to several foundations and other nonprofit organizations that have embraced the college-completion agenda and made it a focal point of their work. The Houston Endowment the Greater Texas Foundation and many others deserve a great deal of credit for keeping this concept of a student-centered system at the top of the public priority list. So what should that new student-centered system look like? While there are many dimensions that will need to be addressed let me zero in today on two key issues: how we award credentials and how the higher-ed system is financed. First lets talk about credentialing. Right now were operating under a system of credentials that is still far too closed and rigid to meet our needs. There are exceptions but for the most part it is still a system that awards credit not for actual learning but for seat time. Its a system in which the recognized levels of achievement ― associate bachelors masters and doctorateare too few too widely spaced and too loosely connected. Its a system that too seldom credits students for what they have learned on the job or in life. Its a system in which students ― first-generation students in particularoften cant understand the pathways to degrees and other credentials. In short its a system based mainly on time spent in classrooms and on campusesnot on learning and acquiring the skills that are genuinely valued in the workplace and can be linked to future opportunities. We need a new system of credentials to assure that high-quality learning is recognized and rewarded ― no matter where or how that learning is obtained. What this will require is an alignment of the postsecondary education and workforce development systems in new and stronger ways using the new system of credentials as the mechanism for achieving this alignment. We expect that early work in the new credentialing efforts will focus on the high demand fields like health sciences and technology to more quickly adapt programs of study to workforce needs and match newly-credentialed students with jobs. In truth the shift to a learning-based flexible stackable credentialing system has been little more than an intriguing idea for a long time. But it is now an idea whose time has come. In fact the task of defining and improving learning outcomes has risen to the top of policy agendas in several states … largely because of its clear connection to workforce needs. That connection puts many of you in the position to be real influencers and leadersvital catalysts in the effort to redesign higher education. Now lets address that second area where redesign is necessary an area that is absolutely critical to the college-completion agenda: Im talking about how higher education is funded. Stated plainly the current student financing model is broken. Our tuition and student aid systems were designed decades ago to meet student needs and social and economic conditions that are dramatically different from those we face today. Fewer than 1 in 5 of todays college freshmen graduated from high school in the prior year and immediately enrolled in a residential four-year institution. And yet a student financing system designed largely to serve that student of the past remains intact. We know that its well past time to fundamentally rethink our national approach to student finance. We need a system in which resources are used to support the success of a much larger ― and infinitely more diversepopulation of students. Building this newly designed student financing system cant happen overnight of course but there are several criteria that we already know it should meet.

1. We need to make college more affordable for low-income students. We must prioritize need-based aid on needy students. Family income should not be a barrier to enrolling in or completing college. Responsible student loan debt should not be a deterrent to enrollment or completion. Student loans should be easy to repay and default should not be common. And aid should be flexible enough to meet unique needs that may come up throughout a students term.
2. We should make the cost of college more predictable and transparent. Students and families should be provided with clear information on which to make decisions about enrolling in college. Information should be structured in such a way that students are encouraged to choose a college where they are likely to complete a timely manner with a high quality credential. And students and families should be informed about financial aid early and often.
3. We must provide incentives to students and institutions to increase completion and lower prices. Incentives should be clearly communicated to students and institutions. And when it comes to financial aid incentives they should be included in as many aid programs as are practicable not only on those targeted to low-income students.
4. We need to align federal state and institutional policies and programs. States and institutions should be encouraged to offer low tuition options for students so that price increases dont dwarf available aid. Federal investments should supplement not supplant state and institutional investment. And states and institutions should be held accountable for completion.

These kinds of incentives should apply to student performance of course but they should also apply to institutional performance. In other words just as students are expected to make satisfactory academic progress to retain their financial aid so should institutions and systems be expected to show progress toward their student-success goals ― and goals set at the state levelto retain their funding. Thats where the states current discussions about outcomes-based funding that I mentioned earlier are so important. Well Ive talked a lot today about what needs to be doneand whyif Texas and the nation are to have any chance of achieving the critical goals for college attainment that are so necessary to our collective well-being. Let me conclude with a few observations about who needs to be involved. Yes policymakers education leaders philanthropy and others do need to be actively engaged. But I think now its time for you to join this effort as well. Individually as employers and civic leaders you canand mustplay a vitally important role in the Goal 2025 effort. For instance as employers you can take direct and meaningful steps to aid college attainment among your own workers. Some concrete suggestions:

• Offer more and better tuition reimbursement programs.
• Permit flexible work scheduling to allow workers to attend college classes.
• Offer counseling to help create individualized learning plans for your workers.
• Encourage prior learning assessments to recognize college-level learning that your employees have already acquired. This can help them earn credentials more quickly and at lower cost.

These and other incentives should be developed to help employees pursue credentials of all kinds not merely those directly related to their current jobs. Next employers should make education a central plank in their platform of community engagement and service. In fact boosting attainment should be at the top of the list when it comes to corporate responsibility efforts. What better way to demonstrate good corporate citizenship than to foster an education-friendly" workplace? Finally and most broadly employers in Texasand really all of us as Americansneed to be advocates for increasing college attainment because thats what the entire country needs. Specifically I urge you to be actively engaged in issues such as improving productivity in higher educationincreasing the capacity of the system to serve a lot more students at the lowest possible cost while ensuring that underrepresented populations get top attention. That means doing things like supporting the development of new systems of credentials and advocating for a revamped financing system for higher education. And it means pushing policymakers to make college success a priority with clear goals and measurable results. So you see Goal 2025 isnt something for Lumina or any other foundation to achieve. Its not a wholly owned effort of philanthropy … or state and federal policymakers … or the higher education community. It isand it must bea broad-based inclusive and intensive effort that we all embrace. Everyone in this room has felt the transformative power of education. And we all know that power needs to be more broadly shared. I urge you to do all you can to make that happen because the payoff will be huge … for all of us. Part I of a II-Part Series on Texas Higher Education. Jamie P. Merisotis is president & CEO of of the Lumina Foundation the nations largest private foundation committed solely to enrolling and graduating more students from college. Long a champion of the idea that higher education enhances both society and individuals Merisotis has worked for decades to increase educational opportunity among low-income minority and other historically underrepresented populations.