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From Access to Student Achievement
In light of the 35-year trends of improved access with continued low completion rates and increasing completion times, several experts have weighed in that the next big challenge in U.S. higher education is degree attainment. The recent book, The Future of Higher Education, emphasizes the critical need to move the focus  beyond access to attainment (Newman et al., 2004, pp. 56-58) as one of a handful of key areas where there is a growing gap between public needs and the reality of U.S. higher education. In another recent book, Equity and Excellence in Higher Education, the case is made for focusing on completion versus enrollment (Bowen et al., 2005, pp. 91-94).
“ Finally it seems clear that enrollment maximization is not the best policy to pursue; college completion (in a timely fashion) is a more important goal.” (Bowen et al., 2005, p. 94)
Why is student achievement becoming a catalyst for action at many institutions? How important is it? We note the following three factors:
- There are few mission objectives that have as positive economic return for society, students, and the institution than increasing the retention and completion rates. For many higher education leaders it is crucial to their mission and ultimately a key measure of their success.
- For-profit institutions have jumped in with fast growing offerings that are especially oriented to the non-traditional student, and now a subset of the nonprofit institutions, serving the same student body, are motivated and mounting substantial online and hybrid initiatives where timely completion is probably the number one selection criteria for prospective students.
- While the outcry to improve higher education is not nearly as strong as that to improve K-12, it is only a matter of time that the diminishing position of the U.S. in terms of world leadership gets additional attention. In terms of an economic driver, the 4-year degree appears to now be essential for dramatic lifetime earnings differentials (Kelly, 2005) and the associated GDP growth.
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