Postsecondary Education Overview

A postsecondary—or college—degree is anything earned after high school. The foundation is focused on increasing postsecondary completion rates because, whether it is a certificate, an associate degree, or a bachelor’s degree, a postsecondary credential is the best path to success for poor students.

The rate of high school graduates in the U.S. who attend college continues to rank among the highest in the world, but college completion rates have remained flat since 1970.

In the United States today, there are millions of young adults--especially low-income young adults--who have both the ability and desire to continue their education past high school. However, they are stalled by limited access to affordable, quality options and competing demands for their time and energy.

As our economy continues to shift, more than half of all new jobs being created require a postsecondary education or advanced training.

For generations of Americans, a high school diploma provided a valuable education and a ticket to the American Dream. A high school graduate had the opportunity to get a steady job that paid enough to support a family and to launch a career. But now, a high school diploma is no longer enough. The median wage for workers with no college is close to the poverty line for a family of four.

That leaves only one path out of poverty: a college education. A postsecondary credential is the best bridge between poor students and good jobs. Unless we dramatically increase the number of students who earn a postsecondary degree, it will be difficult for students from all backgrounds to get jobs and attain middle-class lifestyles.

Enrolling young adults in college is not enough. We must work to increase the number of students who finish college.

The payoff doesn’t come with young adults simply enrolling in college. The payoff comes when students get postsecondary degrees that help them get jobs with family wages--and that’s not happening nearly enough. The college completion rate in America has been flat since the 1970s. We were once first in the world in postsecondary completion rates; we now rank 10th.

Having the will and not the way impedes economic and personal progress for low-income students, affecting not only their prospects but also those of their children. In the near and long term, this situation compromises our nation’s ability to compete effectively in a global economy. Our nation needs to produce young adults capable of taking on the demands of and succeeding in a 21st century workplace and democracy.

Next: Our Approach

To achieve our ambitious goals, we are committed to working with partners large and small, including public and private partners, nonprofits, and other foundations. We are exploring the following strategies:

Improve the performance of the postsecondary education system.

From the moment students enroll in college, they should be guided along a clear pathway to graduation and a career. Despite an increasing number of public and private providers entering the postsecondary education system, there has been very little change in how these institutions design their programs and create support systems to meet the needs of their students, many of whom enter college without the necessary skills to perform college-level work. Our investments will include:

• Innovations in performance management and institutional practices that make it possible to get more students to and through credential-granting programs. Our early investments will be supporting data-driven efforts to accelerate the rate of academic catch-up for poorly prepared students and to improve the first year experience.
• New technology products and platforms that produce dramatic improvement in learning and completion rates and can be developed and adopted at scale.
• Partnerships with business alliances and labor coalitions to develop practices and policies that make it easier for young adults to successfully combine school and work.

Support young adult success.

While most young adults understand the value of education in the abstract, too often real-life pressures get in the way and prevent them from completing a degree. This is especially true for low-income, young people who may have financial constraints, jobs, and family obligations that compete for their time and attention. By offering support, reducing the barriers that prevent them from learning, and reinforcing their motivation to learn and succeed, we expect more young people to be able to focus on completing a degree. Our investments will include:

• Tools and consumer information that ensure young people have the guidance they need. This includes data showing which credentials lead to the greatest opportunity, information about where and how young adults might complete these credentials, and guidance about which institutions have the best track record for getting their students through school and into careers.
• Organizations and alliances that will provide new and more efficient on-ramps to postsecondary education that will bridge the preparation gap and keep the focus on completion, whether through large networks of employers, community-based and civic organizations, or new linkages between networks.
• Incentives that can reinforce young people’s motivation to succeed.

Encourage U.S. leaders to commit to helping students complete their degrees.

Since 1965, much of our higher education policies, including funding and financial aid, have been focused on college access. The foundation is in a unique position to make the case about the importance of getting students to and through college. Our investments will be focused on mobilizing and inspiring leaders, employers, and communities across the country to embrace the goal and make the policy and financial commitments necessary to achieve it. To this end, we will support research, communications, and policy analysis efforts that:

• Highlight the importance of doubling the number of young people who earn a postsecondary credential.
• Shed light on promising policy approaches around funding, accountability, financial aid, and successful colleges that shift the system’s focus to access and completion for all young Americans.