Photo: Gateway Technical College. Licence: Creative Commons

Two thirds of white students who enter public universities graduate with a bachelor’s degree in five years or less, compared with less than half of African-American and Latino students, according to a recent report by the Center for American Progress. 

African-American and Latino students and low-income students also accumulate more debt, on average. 

At the same time, it is three times more common for students from the lowest-income group to leave college before earning a degree, than for students from the highest income group. 

If we continue with the same college policies, we could get to a point in which a very small minority, already coming from the highest-income families, will have the privilege to graduate from college, while the vast majority, of lower-income, will be relegated to lower-paying jobs and have more debt for the rest of their lives. (According to the report, an adult with a bachelor’s degree earns on average $18,000 more a year than an adult with only some college education.)

We are, effectively, eliminating the possibility of the “American Dream.”

The question is, do we want everyone to have the same access and opportunity to graduate from college? If so, we need to change our university policies. We have to make intentional decisions to seek to expand access for young people from low-income backgrounds, to those whose parents did not go to college, and to those from groups who are not as well-represented within the student population.

The report by the Center for American Progress highlights the steps that three public universities have taken to increase the number of students who receive Pell grants, and to eliminate or close the graduation gaps between white students and students of color.

The schools are the University of California – Riverside, the University of Southern Florida, in Tampa, and the University of Northern California – Charlotte, and they could be a model for other public universities in the rest of the country.

These three universities have committed to offering funding based on need, and to offer support services to low-income and first generation students, like the “summer bridge” program.

You can read the complete report here: How Public Universities Can Promote Access and Success for All Students.