By Andrew J. Seligsohn and Jamie Merisotis
Fortunately, Americans from all political perspectives agree that higher education needs to change to better serve Black students, Hispanic and Latino students, and those from low-income families. As higher education institutions move to comply with the court’s ruling, they should make every effort to enact these broadly popular, common-sense solutions that can continue to advance racial diversity and equity in higher education.
The report also found that nearly three-quarters of Americans, including most Republicans, support increased state funding for universities and colleges. States should leverage this support to raise and direct public funds to institutions that best serve today’s diverse student body by helping more residents get the education and training they need—and deserve—to thrive.
Higher education access and affordability are important, but without better completion rates for students of color, these efforts will be in vain. More guidance, advising, financial aid, and basic needs support, as well as student-centered learning environments, are needed to ensure students earn high-quality credentials that lead to employment and lifelong opportunity.
The good news: While Americans differ across partisan identities in their overall attitudes toward higher education, significant majorities of both Republicans and Democrats nonetheless agree about how to improve higher education. Three in four Americans favor increased state funding for guidance and advising to support completion for Black and brown students specifically—with 63 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of Independents and 89 percent of Democrats supporting this policy. Public Agenda also found that 69 percent of Americans say their state should increase financial aid for these populations, including more than half of Republicans (54 percent).
The Supreme Court’s limiting of race-conscious admissions will undoubtedly reduce the proportion of students of color at selective universities across America. This makes it even more important for state and institutional leaders to strengthen the far more numerous institutions where most Americans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds pursue post-high school education. Fortunately, broad agreement among Americans of all political perspectives gives policymakers, institution leaders, and employers a mandate to act—to take the substantive steps that can inch us closer to equity in higher education despite the legal setbacks.