Although postsecondary enrollment rates in the United States improved slightly in 2023, Black and Hispanic students still remain more likely to consider stopping their coursework, or withdrawing from college altogether, says the 2024 Lumina-Gallup State of Higher Education Study.

Understanding these underrepresented groups and their experiences with, and attitudes toward, higher education is critical for policymakers and others committed to improving opportunities for more Americans through an education beyond high school.

For years, colleges have promised that their campuses will be places where all students feel they belong, where they can learn from each other and their professors in an environment that is cooperative rather than combative.

But some are now questioning whether that's a realistic promise as campus leaders struggle to deliver on a core ideal.

What would postsecondary education look like in a world where true lifelong learning—people engaging in education or training at many points throughout their lives—became the norm?

Author and educator Mauro F. Guillén discusses what it would take for colleges and universities to operate as providers of lifelong learning for people in a society where one’s chronological age becomes less meaningful and work and learning blend throughout their lives.