This month, InspirED Michigan is bringing readers a guest column from Brandy Johnson, executive director of the Michigan College Access Network. MCAN works to increase college readiness, participation and completion in Michigan, particularly among low-income students, first-generation college students and students of color. 

Our nation’s economy is never static. The tools we use and the technological improvements we see on a yearly basis creates an economy that is continuously evolving and adapting. The jobs that power America’s economy today are drastically different than those our parents or grandparents got when they graduated from high school.

As our economy continues to evolve, our policies and attitudes toward higher education must evolve as well. In most cases, the good-paying jobs that power our economy today, and will power our economy in the future, require higher education. Millions of high school seniors already have submitted college applications this year and now must choose where to continue their educational careers. But for many students, especially students of color or students who come from lower income households, attending college seems like a dream that will never come true.

If we want the United States to remain a global economic super power, we must make college more accessible to all of our students.

Across the United States, college access organizations such as the Michigan College Access Network are partnering with local and state school officials to ensure that increasing numbers of our students have the opportunity to apply for and attend college. Currently, Michigan’s college attainment rate is around 38 percent, below the national average of 39 percent. The fundamental goal of MCAN is to reach 60 percent college attainment in Michigan by 2025. Though reaching such a goal is not easy, MCAN has put in place a framework that we believe will help increase college access levels substantially.

In December 2014, building on the Administration’s efforts to increase college opportunity, the President and First Lady hosted a second College Opportunity Day of Action, asking colleges and universities and other higher education leaders to make new commitments to increase college opportunity. I stood with Michigan State Board of Education President John Austin and other education officials from our state and laid out a number of actions MCAN will take to help more students prepare for and graduate from college. Those actions include committing to helping Michigan achieve the following:

• Expand the quantity and quality of college access professionals working in Michigan high schools
• Achieve a rate of 90 percent of seniors from partner high schools that complete at least two college applications by Dec. 31, 2015
• Ensure that 70 percent of seniors from partner high schools complete the FAFSA by June 30, 2016
• Ensure that partner high schools achieve at least a 6 percent college enrollment rate increase from the 2013 graduating class’s baseline by Dec. 13, 2016
• Support 81 advisors who serve 100 high schools and 61,610 students, 59 percent of whom are low-income
• Double the number of schools and students served by college access professionals

We committed to help Michigan achieve these goals not because they seemed easily achievable, but because we know our state needs the proper infrastructure to ensure expanded college access if we want Michigan, and the United States, to remain competitive in a global economy.

President Barack Obama echoed our commitment to expanding college access and has proved his desire to increase college enrollment. Earlier this year, he announced a $10 million program to help promote college completion and a $30 million AmeriCorps program that will improve low-income students’ access to college, as well as his ambitious goal to make community college free for all hard-working high school graduates.

It is promising to see a commitment to growing higher education participation from our president and from many state legislatures and local leaders across our country. Getting a college degree is an individual’s best bet to earning a decent living and helping our country’s middle class grow. 

Ours is a nation of innovators. Throughout history, the United States has repeatedly been at the forefront of technological modernization and improvement. Yet during the past few decades, we’ve watched our country fall behind other developed nations in educational achievement. It is time that our nation reaffirm our belief that we want our students to be the best educated in the world.

Increasing college access is the best method to ensure our students remain globally competitive and our workforce is properly trained for the economy of the future.

The following is a list of Michigan organizations and institutions that made commitments during the College Opportunity Day of Action:

• Alma College
• Central Michigan University
• Excellent Schools Detroit
• Jackson County Cradle to Career Network
• Kresge Foundation
• Michigan College Access Network
• Michigan State Board of Education
• Michigan State University
• Skillman Foundation
• University of Michigan
• University of Michigan – Dearborn
• Wayne State University
• WE CAN! Newaygo County
• Western Michigan University

Click here to view the full list of commitments from the College Opportunity Day of Action.