Educators often talk about college as the path to a better life—and research shows it's true. Sadly, fewer and fewer jobs offer a steady living with only a high school diploma. Since 2007, the share of job postings requiring a bachelor's degree has increased by 60 percent.
But college doesn't pay off equally for every student who enrolls. In fact, recent data suggests the higher education system may widen racial inequities, in particular those faced by black students compared with their white peers.
As college costs have skyrocketed, it's been most harmful for students with the least family wealth. The average black household has one-tenth the wealth of the average white household. But our colleges' patterns of enrollment compound the problems, so the same degrees equal more debt, higher default rates and lower earnings for black students.
Here are three measures that would help reverse those inequities: Invest more in community colleges; allow those colleges to offer four-year college degrees; and insist that four-year public universities make equitable enrollment a priority.
Community colleges already offer wide access, enrolling half of first-time black students nationally. But those students have to learn the same calculus and biology with less than 40 percent of the resources per student than students at wealthier four-year universities. One study found a $5 billion gap between what our nation spends educating students of color versus what it spends on white students.
Community colleges need more resources to increase students' likelihood of graduation, and there's growing evidence that more dollars do make a difference.
The Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, started at the City University of New York, has been shown to double community college graduation rates in both New York and Ohio. It offers intensive student advising, financial help and additional supports designed to make it easier to attend college. It's so effective that it reduces the amount of money spent for each college graduate.
For decades, community colleges have offered a path to middle-class jobs like nursing and manufacturing. But these fields and others, such as early childhood education, are gradually shifting to bachelor's degree graduates.
That can reduce students' access to those careers, especially in rural areas. Two-thirds of students stay within 50 miles of home, and community colleges remain the most affordable and accessible option for millions of working adults.
Illinois does not currently allow community colleges to grant four-year degrees in any career field, but it should. Twenty-three states, from Ohio to Texas to Washington, have done so.
Unfortunately, most four-year public universities in Illinois don't enroll representative shares of black Illinois students, and never have. The enrollment of black students in Illinois' public colleges actually dropped 26 percent in recent years.
Public universities need to commit to looking like the populations they serve. That may require recruiting more students in high schools that may be overlooked today. State policymakers should link an institution's state resources to how successfully it creates access for all Illinois students.
As of now, that lack of access leaves black students vulnerable to colleges that leave them worse off. They enroll in for-profit colleges at double the rate of white students. These colleges, despite enrolling only 10 percent of students, account for nearly half of student-loan defaults. Nationally, black students default at rates far higher than white students.
The sum of these pervasive disparities is that, while black students make higher wages with a college degree, they earn 10 percent less than their white peers one year after graduating.
These are just a few steps we should be taking if we are serious about closing our city's persistent racial gaps and creating a higher-education system that is more fair.
Sameer Gadkaree is a senior program officer at the Joyce Foundation, focused on higher education and the future of work. The Joyce Foundation is a sponsor of Crain's Forum.