HIGHER EDUCATION HAS long left behind the image of an American college population featuring predominantly young men from affluent, well-connected families. Today more women are attending college than men; many older, nontraditional students are earning degrees while raising families; and financial aid, scholarships, federal loan programs, and changed policies have opened collegiate doors for students of all income levels and cultural backgrounds.
During the first decades of the 21st century, the faces of the American college population will continue to change. In an increasingly diverse United States, demographers anticipate that by 2020, students of color will comprise 46 percent of the nation's total student population.
Although the population of college-going students will include many students whose backgrounds reflect those currently on our campuses, it will also include many low-income students, first-generation college students, and nonnative students whose first language is not English. Many of these students will seek to further their education and earn the college degrees that are more important than ever in securing professional employment.
Our colleges and universities have an increasingly critical social responsibility to address the growing need to educate this more diverse group of students. Education is a higher good, an equalizer, and a way of opening doors for all those seeking to make the American dream a reality. Higher education must be accessible to every qualified student seeking a college degree, regardless of income, race, culture, or background.
Higher education must be accessible to every qualified student.
While eagerly seeking the diversity of perspective and experience these students will bring to the classroom, the world of higher education must also be prepared to address the multifaceted challenges this diverse population may present.
Cost of attendance is one of the most significant investment decisions a family will make. Although tuition paid by students and families covers only a portion of the cost of operating an institution, colleges and universities must nonetheless be continually vigilant about setting those tuition charges responsibly. We must also make the most strategic allocations of financial aid not only to build a high-quality student body but also to provide access to students from all backgrounds.
One relatively simple, but nonetheless important, way to increase access and accountability in higher education is by making information about colleges, especially about the admissions and financial aid processes, more understandable-more transparent-for students and their families.
This fall, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities is launching the University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN), which will publish data about individual institutions on the web for the general public. This free consumer resource will help students and their parents understand the real costs of attending college and provide concrete measurements of student success by reporting retention and graduation rates, as well as graduate school and career placement statistics.
To increase access to higher education, colleges and universities will need to determine ways to reach out to all students, offer counseling and advice to those who may be less savvy about how to fund an education, and be prepared to provide financial resources to lessen the burden on students and their families. The growing trend of institutions making SAT scores optional for admission, while relying on other strong predictors of success in college such as the high school GPA, is yet another vehicle to open the door wider to a more diverse group of students.
Each institution will need to evaluate and enhance its own admissions, financial aid, and retention programs to meet the needs of this changing student population. At the same time, however, no one institution can take on these issues alone. Only by committing as an enterprise of institutions can a united world of academia ensure the best for all students-particularly those needing the most support.
All institutions-public and private, four-year and two-year-have the responsibility to address these issues. The data clearly indicate that the profile of students attending four-year private as well as four-year public institutions is very similar, with both sectors equally serving low-income students. Each institution has a significant role to play. No one wants to see a qualified student, passionately dedicated to earning a degree, turned away from the opportunities presented by further education.
