Why 14 is the new 12 in education
Asurge of innovation in states and cities is building momentum for what could become a seismic shift in American education.
Just as in the last century Americans came to expect that young people would finish at least 12 years of school, many local governments are now working to increase that minimum to 14 years. And political leaders are beginning to acknowledge that if society routinely expects students to obtain at least two years of schooling past high school, government has a responsibility to provide it to them cost-free.
That impulse animates the statewide tuition-free community-college program pioneered by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam in Tennessee and replicated by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown in Oregon; Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Star Scholarship, which funds two years of community college for students who complete high school with a B average; and legislation Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently signed into law providing tuition-free access to two- and four-year public colleges in New York for families earning up to $125,000.
Two key factors explain why 14 is the new 12 in education. First, amid anxieties about the economic divide in America, there is a recognition that community colleges provide crucial opportunities for working-class kids. And second, they fill employers’ simultaneous demand for more highly skilled workers.
More children of parents without a four-year college degree attend community college than any other form of postsecondary education, according to calculations by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce. That’s true for white, African American and Latino students alike.
The bridge that two-year colleges can provide for workingclass kids was evident when I recently met with a group of Chicago Star Scholarship winners. Among them, only one had a parent who had obtained even a two-year degree. Without the scholarship, which covers tuition, books and fees in the city’s community-college system, most of those around the table said that they would have struggled to pay for school, if they could afford it at all.
“I know a lot of kids in my classes who work two jobs,” said Maria Rivera. “When you have the Star Scholarship … you can put more effort into your work.”
Rivera’s experience highlights two other Chicago innovations that are expanding postsecondary access. She has finished at the two-year Harold Washington College here in just three semesters because she already completed many college-level courses in her public high school. (Half of Chicago high-school graduates now leave with some college credit.) And she’s now seeking a four-year degree, partly because most local colleges provide large tuition discounts to transferring Star Scholarship students.
Rivera is on track to meet employers’ increasing demand for a better educated workforce. In Tennessee, Haslam wants 55% of the state’s adults (up from about 40% now) to obtain a postsecondary credential by 2025. “It’s an economic-competitiveness issue,” said David Wright, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s chief policy officer.
The move toward free community college has inevitably hit some bumps. The Oregon and Tennessee programs provide “last dollar” financing, after students obtain all available federal aid, which has provoked objections because it means a lot of state dollars go to relatively better-off students who don’t receive as much federal help. New York’s broader program has faced a similar concern that free tuition simply lures more upper middle-class students from private colleges into the public system, displacing minority and lower-income kids who often post lower test scores and grades.
Emanuel recently opened a controversial new front by proposing that, starting in 2020, Chicago should prevent students from graduating high school unless they can cite a specific plan to obtain more education, start a job, or join the military. Emanuel says the requirement merely positions the state’s students to meet “what’s going to be expected of them” in the economy. But critics worry it’s unrealistic to demand all students draft such a road map to graduate.
Above all, the push to routinize at least 14 years of education will require community colleges to improve their performance. In Tennessee, three-fourths of community college students don’t complete a degree. Chicago’s community-college system graduates just 17% of its students in three years — though that’s a big improvement over 7% in 2010. Without more investment in community colleges, increased access may just exacerbate overcrowding and diminish results, said Anthony Carnevale, the Georgetown Center’s director.
Recognizing these challenges, then-President Obama wanted to jump-start local efforts by providing matching federal dollars for tuition-free community college nationwide. President Trump has dropped that idea, though Georgetown’s data show how much the working-class whites central to his electoral coalition rely on these institutions. If Trump is serious about lifting those he’s called “forgotten” Americans, broadening access to community college is one element of his predecessor’s agenda it would make sense to slot into his own.