For the past five days, I worked to advance my platform - "Reach Higher: Making Higher Education Possible" with six thousand other "Changemakers" from around the world.
I’m sitting on a corner street coffee shop in 75-degree sunshine, preparing myself mentally to enter the noreaster that awaits our team back in New York. The weather, food, and new friendships has made this week not only the best professional development experience of my life, but an eyeopening call for inquiry and action. The following are my “Top Three Take-Aways” from NASPA 2017.
1. College access must be a collaborative enterprise. Getting students to college, and achieving college attainment, takes a village. Advocates must constantly brief legislators on the importance of funding for information dissemination programs, college access programs (Upward Bound), funding for state aid, and other college retention measures (departments of Student Life). In return, legislators must understand the priority of funding both K-12 and higher education in order to reach the level of educational attainment needed to ensure that the United States can compete educationally and economically on the global scale. Further, college administrators and student personnel need to constantly support students before, during, and after their educational journeys. College administrators and student personnel also need the support of the federal and (mostly) state government in order to encourage persistence, retention, and graduation. If the United States is to be the world educational and economic leader by 2020, each state must increase their college attainment rates drastically. Collaboration across policy makers, practitioners, and scholars is essential if this is to happen.
2. Structural Inequalities hinder college access for millions of students. For a student without the “cultural capital,” or cultural know-how, to succeed and thrive in higher education, the very idea of college can seem daunting, abstract, and nearly impossible. What is the solution? Information! From the Common App to the FAFSA, providing teachers and counselors with the information (and time and support) to help students understand the college-going process is critical to getting students to college. With an Associates Degree increasing potential earnings by over 25%, understanding of the college-going process is critical to increasing educational attainment.
3. The future of education is bright. Over 6,000 Changemakers gathered in San Antonio this week, ready to help students of all ages achieve their goals. I feel confident about the difference that I can make in New Hampshire, New York, and the rest of the country. More importantly, I am confident that we will collectively make higher education a reality for millions of students every year. I also learned that the majority of lawmakers (both federal and state, republican and democrat) in the United States strongly support college access programs and increasing the funding for Pell Grants. Even amidst a time of political uncertainty, our future as educators is not dim. Our students’ futures are bright. We are all on the same team, and we are ready to get to work.
