Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.
President John F. Kennedy

Many of us have heard the phrase, “Education is the great equalizer”. In fact, I suspect that most of us have used the phrase once or twice in our work. Certainly the sentiment is one shared by many, or most, throughout our society and our world, and a hard one with which to disagree. But, when we use the phrase, we use it as if the concept of education as an equalizing agent is a novel theory, a late 20th early 21st century invention. Of course, it is not. Education has been the great equalizer for hundreds of years. The only difference today is that the level of education needed to compete and thrive in today’s global economic marketplace is quite different than it was in President Kennedy’s time. In his time, a high school diploma translated into a good job, with a good wage and economic security for one’s family.

Today, the tables have turned, and no longer is a high school diploma, alone, a ticket to economic success. Instead, today’s path to an economically vibrant, comfortable, successful life must include a higher education, and in particular a four-year degree. The good news is that society can, with a great deal of unanimity, agree on this point. The bad news, though, is that this same society is failing most low-income, and many middle-income kids, by perpetuating systems and structures that cause higher education to be an unattainable dream. Meanwhile, policy makers, higher education institutions, and others sit back and watch as the train speedily moves out of view from the station.

With the escalating costs of an undergraduate education, the shift from need-based to merit-based financial aid, and the continued emphasis on legacy admittance, the college access gap between young people from low- and upper-income families has never been wider. At the most alarming of rates, bright, talented, hard-working kids from low- and middle-income families are being priced out of higher education opportunities. For example, this year, 21 of the 36 Boston Public High School Valedictorians had unmet financial needs high enough that they were at risk of being left behind by our country’s higher education system. If we use this group of students as a proxy for the most academically talented and successful kids in the Boston Public Schools, we paint a very sad picture of affordability and accessibility for bright kids coming from low-income families. It is imperative that we examine this issue and remove the barriers that prevent smart, motivated students from attaining their higher education lifelong economic dreams.

Access = Economic Prosperity; Inaccessibility = Declining Economic Productivity for our Nation

For most, a college degree will be the key in achieving economic well-being. According to the College Board, workers with a bachelor’s degree earn 75 percent more than those with only a high school diploma. Over a lifetime, the gap in earnings between those with only a high school diploma and those with a bachelor’s degree or higher exceeds $1 million. Not only are the economic returns from higher education positive for the individual, but for the nation and our region as well. A report released by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, called Access Denied: Restoring the Nation’s Commitment to Equal Education Opportunity, explained that by significantly narrowing the gap between college-going rates of the highest and lowest income students we would add approximately $250 billion to the gross domestic product. Furthermore, college graduates are the primary source of highly skilled professionals for our nation’s rapidly growing new economy industries like biotechnology, telecommunications, financial and professional services, higher education, and health care. Therefore, the alignment of education and economic growth will continue to be of critical importance if we wish to remain among the world’s leading industrial forces.

Barriers to Access: A Perfect Storm

Every year, access to a higher education gets more and more difficult for low- and middle-income youth. The obstacles preventing low- and middle-income youth from reaching their higher education dreams plentiful, complex, and multiplying, making college matriculation an art and a science all in one. In order to attain their higher education dream, low- and middle-income students not only must get good grades, participate in school community activities score well on the requisite standardized exams, and visit and apply to a varied and diverse portfolio or schools, but they have to spend as much time researching and strategizing ways to pay for their dream. In this way, they are tremendously disadvantaged in comparison to their wealthier peers.

Sadly, a perfect storm has formed causing access to a higher education, and thus, lifelong economic success, to be, in a word, inaccessible. Costs continue to rise, both entry costs for first-year students and renewal costs for returning students. In fact, students are sold a certain set of goods and expectations on the way in and then realize a completely different — and more expensive — set once they are firmly ensconced on their campus. In the 2003 edition of the National Center for Education Statistics’ Digest of Education Statistics we see the startling proof how expensive higher education has gotten. In a ten year period from 1993 to 2003, the cost of a public four-year institution doubled, a private four-year education increased by 60%. During a similar period, Financial Aid — both on the federal and state level — has stayed relatively flat, and has even declined slightly when compared to real dollars. For example, according to the Student Aid Alliance, while the maximum Pell Grant has increased to $4,050 in 2003-04, since its creation, in 1975, it has not kept pace with inflation, and today is only worth 86% of it value of 30 years ago.

Another factor that weighs heavily on low- and middle-income students accessing a higher education is the increased emphasis that institutions are placing on merit-based financial aid and the continued importance of legacy-based admissions policies. File both of these factors under the “rich get richer category,” which, unfortunately, is the reality of today’s higher education marketplace.

In the first case, schools are using their, often tight and limited, institutional financial aid budgets to attract the “best” students onto their campus — in part, hoping to increase their scores on such ranking systems as those conducted by US News and World Reports. Because these merit-based financial aid decisions often benefit upper-middle class, or even wealthier, students from high performing school districts or private preparatory schools, much less needy students get their tuition paid, while more needy students from less resourced areas are left watching from the sidelines. Fay Vincent, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball, shined an important light on this subject in a May 2005 Op-Ed in the Washington Post. Vincent said, “the high-income student is twice privileged — once in affording the better schools or special tutoring that help get the high scores, and then in getting a financial award.” A second example of higher education access being easier for more socio-economically advantaged youth is the tried and true legacy admissions policy subscribed to by many of America’s most elite colleges and universities. These policies propagate the significant divides — particularly along economic and racial lines — that exist on many of our nation’s elite college campuses, and lead to a privileged class become more and more privileged and those non-legacies left out. In both instances, with merit-based aid and legacy admissions, the haves continue to get the upper hand on economic growth, and the have-nots have to fight twice as hard — if not harder — to get their share of the American dream.

Solving The Access Gap: A New Deal for America’s Youth

America has been hit with a depression of sorts in the form of the inaccessibility of a higher education for our Nation’s low- and middle-income youth. In the same way that FDR responded to the 1920’s depression with a series of programs and policies that helped our Nation through that crisis, we need to invest in bold solutions to eradicate the college access crisis. No one disagrees with the idea that more governmental financial aid will help to ameliorate the crisis at hand. But, in absence of such a windfall of support, there are things we all can begin to do right away. Certainly a part of any “New Deal” would be the de-emphasis of merit-based aid programs and legacy admissions. Both perpetuate the gap between rich and poor and have and have-nots, and neither have many champions outside of the entitled class. As a society, we must promote fresh ideas that reach beyond financial aid as the sole solution to this problem. Below are three such ideas that foster greater access and require a mix of local, campus based action, and governmental action:

1. Create a new Federal Initiative Called “AmeriCollege” that engages college undergraduates as mentors and coaches to young people interested in and applying to college. This program could be operated by the Corporation for National and Community Service as a focus funding area of the current AmeriCorps or Learn and Serve America Programs. Such a program could be run by higher education institutions in their local communities or by community organizations in the college access field. Each year, college undergraduates would be recruited, trained, and paired with 4-5 young people interested in attending college, but at risk of not attending. These undergraduates would help coach and support their team of college aspirants through the selection, admission, and financial aid processes, ensuring that they would not be alone in the process of getting to college. Ample research has shown that having someone, in addition to a school guidance counselor, assist students with the college-going process has a significant impact on a student’s matriculation success.
2. Provide rewards and incentives for Higher Education Institutions who successfully recruit and retain a certain — significant — percentage of low-income students. Higher education institutions do all sorts of business with local, state and federal governments and agencies. Those governmental authorities should incorporate incentives and rewards into the application and review processes — for any and all business that they do with colleges and universities — which provide an extra benefit to those schools that reach and maintain a significant percentage of low-income students on their campus. So as to not unfairly benefit wealthier schools, incentives could also be geared to those institutions that show the greatest increases in recruitment and retention of low-income youth.
3. Increased Investment in Campus Community Service and Outreach Programs. Earlier this year, Campus Compact compiled a vast collection of studies that shines an important light on the deep connections that exist between community service learning and the retention of the young people who participate in such programs. There are innumerable benefits to further investment in these programs. First, the students feel a deeper connection to their school and their community, thus making them less likely to leave, while gaining real-world experience and connections that help them secure summer jobs, school-year internships, and possible post-college employment opportunities. The local community benefits from having more trained, dedicated, committed volunteers to help solve local problems that may exist. And colleges and universities build positive relationships with the local community, breaking down some of the typical town-gown issues that crop up regularly.

To make good on President Kennedy’s charge we must make access to a higher education attainable and affordable. It is all of our responsibilities to ensure that every young person who dreams the dream of going to college has the information and resources necessary to do so. That will only happen if we eliminate the many, and overwhelming, barriers that currently stand in the way of low- and middle-income young people and that dream. That will only happen if we build thoughtful programs and incentives that lead to increased accessibility for all young people, regardless of their economic upbringing and surroundings. But, most important of all, that will only happen if we all agree to act on what we already know — that “education is the great equalizer” and that without a higher education, future generations will be left to languish, missing out on the American Dream that our generation was so fortunate to have enjoyed.