Higher education and workforce leaders from more than 30 states gathered this week in Baltimore to explore national trends related to education and training after high school, equitable public financing and individual benefits, and the value and purpose of colleges and universities in American society.
Lumina’s President and CEO Jamie Merisotis offered the following remarks Sept. 11 to open the Forward Together policy retreat.
I’m delighted to be with so many close partners and friends in state leadership roles. We hold these state policy retreats to gather and share different approaches and ideas, with the hope that you’ll return home with fresh thinking about the challenges we all face.
We all understand that we live in a complex and often dangerous world. Today, we are meeting on the anniversary of 9/11, the effects of which are still being felt 23 years later. We haven’t completely escaped the effects of COVID on higher ed and the country at large. Artificial intelligence is advancing with great speed and uncertainty. And last week, we experienced just the latest in the seemingly endless series of school shootings.
Clearly, we live in a time of ongoing disruption and enormous challenges.
We are also less than two months away from another in what seems to be a series of epoch-defining elections. Much has been written about the intense polarization in our country, including a supposedly inexorable divide in views of higher education among red and blue states.
But if I can take liberties with Mark Twain, our own work shows that some of those reports have been greatly exaggerated. For example, Texas, led by Republicans, and Illinois, led by Democrats, are both reevaluating and increasing funding for higher ed. Texas recently redesigned how it funds community colleges, while Illinois is taking on how it funds universities.
Both states agree that a more equitable distribution of taxpayer dollars across higher education is vital. More resources are needed to help students earn credentials valued in the workplace.
Several of our sessions during this retreat will touch on funding reforms we’re seeing in the states. I think everyone in this room will acknowledge that this is a pivotal moment for American higher ed.
I know you share my frustration that, at a time when higher education has never been more important for our citizens or our country, we’re facing stiff headwinds everywhere we look. And while there has been a welcome uptick in enrollment this past year, we must be clear-eyed about our current challenges.
Not only have we seen a decade-long enrollment decline, but the fact that there are fewer Americans under 18 makes this trend difficult to reverse. Throw in a robust job market and that fewer than two-thirds of high school graduates are going on to college — a percentage well down from a decade ago — and the headwinds become a hurricane.
But the biggest concern is that for the first time in American history, many Americans are questioning whether higher education is still worth it.
According to a Gallup poll, confidence in higher education is at an all-time low, with only 36 percent of Americans saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. This is a 20-point drop from eight years ago.
Fueling these perceptions is best described as a well-thought-out plan to come after higher education for political purposes. Lumina tracks media narratives related to higher education, and we see a consistent and focused set of critiques that use a drop of truth to unleash a tidal wave of backlash.
While these attacks, in some cases, are based on truth and must be addressed when appropriate, they are often overblown, misleading, and threaten the success of our citizens, communities, states, and our country.
We must elevate the level of discourse and push back against these critiques while leaving lots of room for genuine, urgently needed systemic change. Lumina has long pointed out and worked to remedy the systemic inequities, inefficiencies, and unfairness in higher education — these two ideas are not in contradiction, as I will explain in a bit.
Let’s start first with the facts about why higher education has been and remains a fundamental building block of American greatness.
For individuals, the data are clear that a bachelor’s degree is still Americans’ surest route to the middle class. A study from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce found an average lifetime gain of $1.2 million for those with bachelor’s degrees.
Of course, the benefits of going to college go beyond making more money. Many studies say that today’s workers will typically have 10 or more jobs over their lifetimes, and we know that college embeds habits—such as discipline, curiosity, and critical thinking—that give one a leg up on learning new things. This is true for people who earn any postsecondary credential—bachelor’s degrees, associate degrees, certificates, and other credentials.
The data are also clear that people without education past high school not only earn less than those with some higher education—they also struggle more.
They’re more prone to depression. They need more government assistance. They pay less taxes. They divorce more frequently, vote and volunteer less often, and even live shorter lives. New research by Anne Case and Angus Deaton — the Princeton economists who coined the term “deaths of despair” — reveals that the gap in life expectancy between Americans with college degrees and those without has surged to 8½ years.
We also can’t overlook higher ed’s tremendous societal and national value.
In a recent op-ed in our local Indianapolis newspaper, The Indianapolis Star, Ball State Economist Michael Hicks points out that the combination of business incentives and cuts to funding of higher education has left Indiana’s economy weaker vis-à-vis other states. He concludes this way:
“To put it as plainly as possible: Educational attainment alone is now a more powerful predictor of a region’s economic success than everything else combined.”
Let me share one more argument I’ve been making in gatherings like this.
The economy’s shift from high-paying manufacturing jobs to technology-mediated office work requiring college education has made life more challenging, broadening the popular appeal of authoritarianism. While a global phenomenon, we’re seeing the growing appeal of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom here in the United States.
Studies going back decades have shown that higher levels of education make it less likely people will turn away from democracy. Data from surveys that track authoritarian leanings show that higher levels of education reduce such beliefs and values. Recent studies show that about one-quarter of Americans with a high school diploma or less say “military rule would be a good way to govern our country,” compared with only 7 percent of college grads holding the same view.
Higher ed promotes independent thought and curiosity. It exposes people to other cultures and ideas. It can equip people to handle complexity, differences, and rapid societal changes. A better-educated population, then, is not only essential to individual prosperity—what we have long called the “good jobs and good life” dividends of education—but also shared prosperity, the strongest bulwark against growing threats to our democratic way of life.
So, we can all agree that, when it comes to value, of course higher ed is worth it. That’s been the case throughout our country’s history, and the evidence is overwhelming that it’s still the case.
But that doesn’t mean the system as it’s been for the past century or more is sufficient going forward. High costs have put too many schools out of reach for many Americans. The system is inflexible and hard to understand; college schedules often don’t work for today’s students — more of whom are older, working, many with families of their own. And students are often unsure if their coursework will prepare them for today’s jobs.
Higher ed must be responsive to society’s needs, which have evolved in light of global, technological, economic, and social changes.
The good news is that many states get it and are adapting. Data show that price increases are easing—sometimes dramatically—and states are expanding scholarships and need-based aid. More states are encouraging schools to look at options like three-year degrees rather than the traditional four-year model and short-term credentials and offer more flexible scheduling to meet the needs of today’s learners. More states are creating real financial incentives for schools to partner with businesses to ensure they’re teaching in-demand skills. They use internships, apprenticeships, stackable credentials, and other programs to give their students entrée into good jobs.
I mentioned the Texas funding increases in a bill known as HB 8. A piece of the legislation that stands out is its focus on awarding “credentials of value”—defined as degrees, certificates, or credentials that “offer purpose in the economy, value in the labor market, and opportunities for good jobs and meaningful careers.”
Lumina is also putting renewed emphasis on tying degrees and credentials to return on investment, good jobs, more opportunities for further education, and other measures of value.
Let me also single out two areas that remain at the heart of our mission.
First is the importance of bringing an equity lens to this work despite the backlash against DEI and other such efforts.
For all the efforts going back decades, gaps in attainment that have long existed due to historical, social, systemic, and structural factors persist. The Supreme Court decision denying the use of affirmative action in admissions eliminates an essential tool from our toolbox. Still, we have many others at our disposal to ensure everyone has access to resources and opportunities to succeed.
Our collective futures depend on bringing off the sidelines the people who too often have been left out. A recent Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce report provides powerful evidence of why this matters.
It notes that the proportion of people with degrees increased 6.7 percentage points from 2010 to 2020, and as a result, U.S. workers will earn more than $14 trillion more over their lifetimes than they otherwise would have.
Of course, it’s not just the college graduates who benefit. When people earn more, they spend more—not only on cars, homes, and groceries but on their communities through civic involvement and charitable giving.
The Georgetown center’s analysis also found that if all racial and ethnic groups reached the same educational levels as white Americans, those groups would see an additional $11 trillion in net lifetime earnings on top of the $14 trillion all graduates will gain.
This means that we’ve got to do a better job designing policies and programs to meet today’s students’ needs, especially regarding affordability and academic quality. Programs from the arts and humanities to sciences and specialized technical programs must be made more affordable and built to support today’s students’ lives. For many of these students, who are more likely to work, provide care for family members, and experience economic insecurity, programs should be completed in reasonable time frames, offer scheduling flexibility, and lead to family-sustaining livelihoods.
Second, I want to underscore the importance of developing productive individuals and informed, engaged citizens.
I mentioned earlier how even the United States is not immune from the appeal of authoritarianism—which is on the rise worldwide—and that research has shown that education plays a crucial role in protecting democracy.
But higher education’s role in advancing democracy has been understated, undervalued, and underinvested. Our task now is to highlight the continuing economic and social benefits of higher ed while also making the case that it’s one of our best bets to help protect democracy. Increasing college attainment alone will not solve all our nation’s challenges with cohesion and democratic vitality, but the sector can do more to play a positive role.
There’s an opportunity to build bridges—despite the many signs of increased polarization. Among the reform efforts needed in higher education, we must reimagine higher ed’s role in preparing people for active, informed citizenship.
It’s not just about voting; it’s as important as that. Active citizenship requires us to be genuinely engaged in our communities and society. Educators must connect learning with the persistent issues confronting individuals and their communities to support that effort.
That means answering tough questions, including:
- What do people need to learn and experience to prepare them to be better equipped for today and tomorrow while also serving as engaged and active citizens?
- How do we respond to the torrents of misinformation in ways that allow us to work across our differences?
- How can we reckon with America’s troubled past and present, particularly regarding race, ethnicity, income, and geography, while working toward a brighter future?
- And how can we show young Americans that education can equip them to have a tangible impact on the problems they see around them?
Thinking about why higher ed is so valuable—and what education is for—points us in the right direction. It can lead us to the most productive responses at a time when such responses are desperately needed.
Students with immersive experiences in problem-solving, communication, digital literacy, critical thinking, teamwork, and other foundational skills are the best defenders of democracy and contributors to their communities. We need to give them every chance to succeed.
Even more than in past gatherings, this is our leadership moment, a time for creativity, new approaches, a time when we need to think of strategy—not in terms of either/or, but both/and.
So, thank you very much for being here, and I’m very much looking forward to hearing what’s on your minds and having a truly productive meeting.