Universal Access to Higher Education

College should be affordable.

Over the past decades, higher education in America and Europe has moved from an elite privilege to a mass phenomenon. But access to higher education still largely remains something for the upper and middle-income classes of society.

Universities can no longer afford to act like elite institutions, and governments can no longer allow them to. The focus of these institutions needs to shift towards universal access to education. This is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, gender, ethnicity background or physical and mental disabilities. Promoting this access allows the dissemination of knowledge across the diversity of social, cultural, economic, and national backgrounds. The question now is “How can countries and universities become leaders in social responsibility and promote universal access to education?”

Equal Opportunity

There are three important obstacles we face if we are to address the issue of universal access. These are college preparedness, cost, and access to enrollment.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only a small fraction of U.S. high school seniors are at or above proficiency in math and reading: 26% and 38%, respectively. Yet roughly two-thirds of high school graduates enroll in college. It is not as if there are no incentives for completion. When compared to simply graduating from high school, a bachelor’s degree produces an increase in earnings over one’s career of nearly $600,000. Regardless of this, many students are unable to achieve this goal due to lack of preparedness and discouragement causing them to drop out.

According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition and fees in the U.S. for the 2017–2018 school year was $34,740 at private colleges, $9,970 for state residents at public colleges, and $25,620 for out-of-state residents attending public universities. The average student debt in the UK upon graduation is £32,000 and rising. Globally the amount of debt accumulated throughout one’s college career is enough of a deterrent to prevent many from pursuing a degree.

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) the area with the highest percentage of the population enrolled in college is North America at 84%. The lowest percentage of the population enrolled in higher education is found in Sub-Saharan Africa at 8%. The disparate result stem from lack of actual physical universities. While the United States has universities in the quadruple digits, many developing nations have as little as one university in their entirety. This greatly decreases the likelihood of receiving a higher education for potential students in areas with little to no places to study.

What We Are Doing

Across the globe, many organizations are working to address these issues and work towards the goal of universal access to higher education.

Programs in the U.S. are offering a higher level of assistance for low-income students tied to performance preparing them for college level courses. Research has shown that these programs increased on-time graduation rates by 7 percentage points. There are also scholarships aimed to provide free tuition and fees for up to four years to academically qualified students who maintain a minimum GPA and course load in college.

Countries such as Germany have free access to higher education, and the State of New York has introduced a similar program for publicly funded colleges. Across Europe, costs to students are much lower and even international students are incentivized to study at subsidized rates with the knowledge that their talent will boost the economy.

In Montreal in Canada, the European Access Network organized the first World Congress on Access to Post-secondary Education. The goal of this conference, as a well as a similar gathering taking place in Thailand, was to discuss challenges for reaching 'societal excellence' – a term used to encompass everything from access and support to employability and civic responsibilities of graduates.

What Needs to be Done

The primary problem being faced in developed countries is no longer enrollment, it is completion. Almost half of all college students drop out before they complete a degree. To prevent this, we need to provide access to tutors and resources that encourage students to strive for their degrees.

Another issue we face is how we provide financial support. Some who may not objectively need financial support will receive it, at the same time, those who are in desperate need may not. To ensure that the financial barrier and debt aversion are eliminated from the minds of those who are dissuaded from attending higher education, a universal system is essential.

The organized student movement may be key to achieving our goal of universal access. Students are a global pressure group that has become increasingly vocal on behalf of those who are not its members. When student representatives speak, those at the forefront of their minds are not those they represent, but those whom we ought to represent. The continued action of the student movement is essential to success in ensuring higher education is affordable as well as readily available.

A Bright Future

The age of mass higher education has begun, and it will soon be the age of universal higher education. Universities must no longer act as if they are still inaccessible, bastions only for the elite. It is time to build on the progressive movement of the past and make public colleges and universities affordable and accessible around the world, a development that will be the driver of a new era of global prosperity. Universal education will create a society where all young people with ambition and talent can reach their full potential, regardless of their circumstances at birth.