Defining Access to Higher Education


Posted by Stacy Oliver on 10 Mar 2011 / 4 Comments


Kate Feeney, a graduate student at Iowa State University, contacted me earlier this week. For a class project, she was soliciting answers to the following question:

What does access to higher education mean to you?

I took the better part of a day to think about it before responding. What a great question — and something we talked about a lot in graduate school, but maybe haven’t given as much consideration to since graduating.  My response to Kate:

To me, college access is about making higher education accessible and affordable to people from diverse populations, including but not limited to ethnic, racial and socioeconomic differences. It does not mean providing college education to everyone; rather, it provides means for everyone who wants to pursue the opportunity. Access and success are often confused in higher education — access provides the opportunity; it’s up to students to build success.

 

How would you answer Kate’s question?

Written by Stacy Oliver


  • http://twitter.com/onlinefac Brian C. Steinberg

    When I worked and taught at Waldorf College in Forest City, IA, I could not travel to Ames for a PhD Program so I worked on my PhD online with Capella University. This is what access is all about. Online education is the future, but I also understand that many minorities lack access as well.

  • KSONeill

    In my area, we have a fab-u-lous community college that provides access to highered for everyone who can get together the financing and or scholarships. No social security numbers required. We also have a private university that has a president who is sincerely dedicated to providing scholarships for 40 students per year who come from economically and educational disadvantaged backgrounds. To me? Access means outreach efforts so students know what kind of financial aid is available, the reality of fund availability, AND, support to help students navigate the process.

  • Scott Marshall

    What if we reframed the question to be: What does opportunity mean to you? Or, What does access to opportunity mean to you?

    Not everyone has the same opportunities or the same access to opportunity. But those aren't the questions Kate asked…

    What is access to higher ed: communities that make higher ed a priority in their conversations and their actions (cultural capital); families that do the same (social capital); “fully funded” P-12 public education; rigorous standards and the expectation of accountability – for students and teachers throughout the education years.

    Good question Stacy (Kate).

    Scott Marshall
    University of Minnesota

  • http://brianpgallagher.wordpress.com Brian Gallagher

    I agree with your response Stacy, the only thing I would add would be some sort of piece about while we do empower and want students to come to Higher Ed, we also need to let them 'fail' when it is the right thing for them.

    At my current institution, we have lots of transfer students and returning students. Many of them have shared with me how they went to college once before and it didn't work out for whatever reason. They dropped out or failed out and are now returning 'ready to go' and are successful.

    So, agreeing with your comment about how it is “up to the student to build success” – I think it is important that we enable the student, empower the student, but do not do it 'for' the student.

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