Equity is emerging as a new frontier in the student success movement. But it's not enough to tackle higher education's deep equity divides by looking only at markers such as persistence, transfer, course credits, and DWF grades. True equity accountability depends on clarity about the key components of a quality education, especially the kinds of learning that prepare students for a volatile economy, an interconnected world, and for their own roles in creating a more just democracy. This article outlines Quality Learning Essentials (QLEs) (sometimes called Essential Learning Outcomes) that all learners--whatever their major--need to achieve across their chosen course of study. QLEs provide those needed markers for quality and equity. They make it possible to ask searching questions--with disaggregated and comparable evidence--about whether and how well students are successfully gaining capacities that are fundamental to opportunity and to societal responsibility.