Key strategies

• Providing students with sufficient counseling and other support to prepare for, apply to, and enroll in traditional college or other post-secondary programs, even if they lack assistance from family and friends

  • Offer universal free SAT or ACT for high school students

  • Provide time for all high school seniors to write application essays and complete college applications during school hours

  • Help students complete FASFA applications so they can receive federal aid

• Identifying students from underserved backgrounds who are at risk of undermatching (i.e. high-achieving students from low-income families who are unlikely to apply to a selective college or university even though they would be likely to thrive there), and provide them with the necessary tools and support to go to college

• Enrolling high school students in the local community college automatically with the option to opt-out, rather than the requirement to opt in

• Addressing the cost barriers that prevent some Americans from accessing community college through reduced/no tuition initiatives and scholarship programs

• Partnering with local community colleges to increase full-time, degree-focused attendance, which is the most likely to result in students obtaining a degree or certification

  • Provide students with the supports they need to be successful in a full-time degree program (i.e. tutoring and child care)

• Using publicly-facing data systems, like those established in Ohio and Colorado, to help students make better decisions about what careers to pursue and what institutions/degree programs are the most cost-effective ways to attain necessary skills

• Investing in longitudinal data systems and creating links to state IRS/unemployment data bases to facilitate a way to measure success of training programs by employment outcomes and wage gains.

• Tracking outcomes of training programs within and outside of community colleges so that policymakers and workers can better understand which programs generate measurable outcomes in terms of employment, wage gains, and other indicators.

  • Public data platforms can help people make good decisions about what training to pursue.

  • Use mechanisms like an Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL), which allows states to certify which training providers can receive Federal WIOA funds based on outcomes