Letters from Kay Kohl

Opening University Doors

(UCEA InFocus, January/February 2007)
Kay Kohl, UCEA Executive Director and CEO

Improving college access for low-income Americans must be a priority of the United States if the country is to secure "the promise of the future and unleash the potential of the American people," according to the recent Spellings Commission. The President's budget plan for 2008, released on February 6th, is one response to the Commission. The Administration recommends raising the Pell Grant maximum to $4600 and increasing the borrowing limit for undergraduates from $23,000 to $30,500. The question is: What impact might such changes in federal financial aid have?

A Changing Economy

The fact is that the country's evolving economy is generating ever more jobs that require complex, higher level skills, the kind developed in postsecondary education. As the economy has shed jobs in manufacturing and other sectors in the last decade, thousands of white and blue collar employees have been faced with the need to retool in order to qualify for a new job. At the same time, the workforce is becoming more diverse, with ethnic and racial minorities projected to account for more than one-third of the workforce by 2020. One result of this demographic shift is that children from low-income and minority families will constitute an increasing proportion of the workforce and of the prospective college age population. Many appear unprepared to borrow large sums to pay for college. Some are electing to pursue college on a pay-as-you-go basis, combining work and studies. What has state policymakers concerned is that if more people cannot be encouraged to pursue higher education, the level of educational attainment in their states is bound to drop within the current decade, along with state revenues.

Addressing Regional Needs

It is crucial for government, employers, and universities to collaborate on the development of high quality postsecondary education programs that address regional needs. And it is essential that these programs be designed to accommodate the growing population of part-time students.

Raising the federal loan limit, as the Administration proposes, would not likely provide much help to either older or traditional age college students attending part-time. Older working students typically earn too much to qualify for federal aid. They use their own funds or rely on employer support to pay for college. Part-time students under age 25 have difficulty qualifying for "financially independent" status because federal law assumes that these students should be able to count on family for support. In reality, many young students have family financial obligations that leave them no choice but to combine their studies with full-time employment, and so may earn too much to qualify for federal aid.

Employers in search of talent should involve higher education institutions and regional economic development agencies in the development of solutions to their human capital needs. University continuing education organizations frequently collaborate with state agencies and with employers in fields as diverse as allied health, K-12 education, transportation, financial services, and the biosciences on the development of part-time baccalaureate degree programs for current and prospective employees.

Colleges and universities must do far more to reach out to part-time adult learners if they want to serve the public good mission. The country's need to develop the talent of its people is urgent. Opening university doors to serious part-time degree-seeking students is hardly a radical idea. A number of the country's most prestigious research universities first offered part-time degree programs at the beginning of the last century. The students whom they served in their evening colleges in the early 1900s may have lacked money but certainly, not a desire to learn. They were in search of an education that would prepare them for entry into a changing economy and for participation in the civic life of their communities. These remain the core aims of a good university part-time degree program today.