Photo: Sophie Park

On paper, starting at a community college is a great idea. Community colleges typically have open admission and are comparatively cheap or even free. Four out of five students who begin at a community college say they plan to transfer and eventually earn a bachelor’s degree or higher.

But in one of the most persistent failings of the higher education system, only about one in six of them actually succeed. A new coalition of 32 community colleges and 32 four-year universities nationwide is trying to find new ways to clear this transfer minefield.

Milwaukee has lots of nonprofits and educational institutions working to help students go to and stay in college. But the city still faces a college completion “crisis.” Only about two in three Milwaukee students graduate from high school; of that group, just 36 percent enrolled in college in 2020.

A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum explores Milwaukee’s leaky education pipeline and outlines how the city’s college access programs can better address the challenge.

Illustration: Mark Harris

In recent decades, the United States has made an attempt to narrow persistent race- and income-based inequalities in educational attainment by helping students of different backgrounds access loans. 

The Biden administration is now trying to cancel some of that debt. But canceling existing student debt up to a specific amount does nothing to help new students apply to and attend universities that will give them the greatest odds of success, writes Jodie Adams Kirshner, an author and professor, in this op-ed.