In 2022, 18-year-old Robert Daniel Cuadra had plans to embark on a promising college career at Montclair State University. But Cuadra would never actually enroll at the public research university just a few miles from his home. Five months before graduating high school, he was senselessly murdered while unloading groceries outside of his home.

That story—and others like it—is the impetus for the Male Enrollment and Graduation Alliance, an ambitious wrap-around initiative designed to strengthen the high school-to-college pipeline for Black and Hispanic/Latino males and put them on a path to graduation.

Accrediting agencies tasked with evaluating U.S. colleges and universities typically focus on metrics related to academics, operations, and fiscal health. The nascent Postsecondary Commission aims to offer a different model for determining institutional quality, one centered largely on student outcomes, such as earnings and economic mobility.

But first, it must become a recognized accrediting body. And while the organization has taken the initial steps to do so, it is only a year into the lengthy and arduous process.

Whether students complete college or drop out before earning a degree has a significant impact on the amount of student loan debt they owe. That’s according to a new study by the HEA Group and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

With student loan debt standing at about $1.7 trillion, the findings demonstrate once again the importance of degree completion and quality. While access to college is essential, earning a credential with solid economic returns remains key to students’ ability to make loan repayments that are large enough to keep up with their accumulating interest.