Resource Archive

Faced with a steep demographic cliff and a growing chorus of questions about value, higher education is wrestling with a somewhat unfamiliar question: How can the college admissions process evolve from gatekeeper to gateway?

This resource examines the role of stronger data systems in addressing challenges and barriers students must currently overcome to access postsecondary education, highlights efforts states and institutions are undertaking to streamline the admissions process, and identifies best practices that have emerged in the field.

More than 82 million adults 25 years old and over have never enrolled in any postsecondary education, and another 43.1 million adults have some college credits, but no credential. Black, Hispanic, and Native American adults are disproportionately represented in both of these categories. But the fundamental structures and practices of colleges were not built with…

Americans have much more confidence in public colleges and universities than in private ones, accorindg to a new survey by Vanderbilt University’s Project on Unity and American Democracy.

This study sheds light on the motivations, challenges, and successes of the strategies and practices used by a set of postsecondary institutions that have enacted institutional change in support of adult learners of color.

As the postsecondary landscape has changed, it is critical that the field develop a common language through the creation of a typology that can be used to describe the landscape of admissions innovations and the characteristics of each type as the basis to better understand their impact.

An analysis reveals the rapid growth of state investments in short-term credential pathways. Total investments now exceed $5.6 billion across 70 initiatives in 32 states.

Getting a head start on college coursework in high school has become an even more important goal for high school students in recent years, due in part to the rising costs of obtaining traditional four-year college degrees coupled with the disruptions in learning for high school and college students because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One out of every five undergraduate students are caring for one or more children while enrolled in college. That amounts to just over three million undergraduate students, along with nearly a million graduate students with children. Many students, especially those with children, grapple with housing insecurity and homelessness.

Latino students in Texas make informed, pragmatic choices to afford college, often shaped by state policy and institutional practice, says a new brief from Excelencia in Education.

What happens when student parents receive the financial, institutional, and emotional support they need to excel in college? They don’t just earn degrees—they lead, innovate, and uplift their communities.

Private, nonprofit colleges and universities continue to significantly discount their published prices for undergraduates, according to a new study from the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

The urgent need to build a strong pipeline of career-ready high school graduates is growing rapidly, just as more parents, students, and employers are questioning the value of traditional higher education.

A new survey from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows that more than half of student loan borrowers consider themselves financially insecure, with an overwhelming majority (74 percent) of borrowers saying they had experienced at least one negative financial event in the last 12 months—such as not being able to pay the full amount due on…

For years, experts have predicted that the number of 18-year-olds entering college will begin a long period of decline due to lower birthrates after the 2008 recession. Now, that period—the “enrollment cliff”—is here.

College students today often face a variety of challenges academic pressures, social and family stresses, financial/ economic hardship stresses, a rapidly shifting technological environment, an increasingly polarized political environment, and more.

The United States is facing shortages of middle-skills credentials (certificates and associate degrees) that provide pathways for early-career workers to secure jobs in occupations that are high-paying for workers without a bachelor’s degree.

Transferring credits from a community college to a four-year institution remains a crucial strategy many students must use to obtain a bachelor’s degree. However, effectively implementing this strategy can be difficult. Despite state policies intended to streamline credit transfer, students face significant barriers to having their credits accepted and, more importantly, applied to degree requirements…

The four million student parents who make up the postsecondary education population in the United States face unique barriers to success that reach far beyond the high cost of tuition. Of these four million students, 43 percent are single mothers, nearly 10 percent of the undergraduate population. Single mothers with only a high school diploma…

Across the United States, millions of students are derailed from completing their college degree not by academic challenges, but by unexpected financial emergencies and the overwhelming costs of balancing education with basic needs. This is especially student parents. More than one in five undergraduates are student parents, with single mothers representing 43 percent of this…