Since the National Defense Education Act of 1958, a primary objective of federal higher education policy has been to increase access to higher education for those who would not otherwise attend, especially those from low income backgrounds. Increasing attention is now being paid to enhancing student retention and graduation, making sure that…

The goal of this publication is to stimulate dialogue about defining opportunity for postsecondary education and ways to measure progress. It is hoped that this dialogue will inform the decision-making process of policymakers as they tackle policy challenges ranging from reform of K-12 education to improvement of postsecondary education. The…

This report presents the findings of a study designed by the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education to identify the institutional characteristics, practices, and policies that might account for differences in retention and graduation rates among colleges and universities that serve high concentrations of low-income…