Celebrating College Completion Day: A Call to Invest in Student Success​

Today, on College Completion Day, we honor the achievements of students who have reached a significant milestone in their educational journey. This day also serves as a reminder of the work still needed to ensure that all students, regardless of their background, have the support necessary to complete their college education.​

Far too many students who start college never finish. Nationally, only about three in five students at four-year institutions earn a degree within six years, and the numbers are even worse for students at two-year colleges, where fewer than half of students earn a credential within eight years. This failure to support students to completion comes at a steep cost—both for individuals and society. Dropouts often leave college saddled with debt, but without the credential that could unlock better job opportunities. One rough estimate shows that each cohort of new students who don’t finish costs taxpayers nearly $130 billion in lost earnings, lower tax revenues, and greater reliance on social safety net programs.

While part of the problem lies in low-quality or predatory institutions that leave students worse off, a far more widespread and overlooked issue is that too many under-resourced colleges simply don’t have the capacity to provide the support their students need to succeed. These institutions often serve a significant share of students with the greatest needs—first-generation, low-income, working adults—but have the fewest dollars to invest in academic advising, mental health services, emergency aid, and career support. If we’re serious about increasing college completion, we need a two-pronged investment strategy: first, in evidence-based interventions that we know move the needle on student success, and second, in foundational, unrestricted support for under-resourced institutions to build up the baseline infrastructure students need.

Higher education funding at the federal level is built around a voucher system. Federal dollars follow students via financial aid, primarily Pell Grants. While this increases access, it overlooks a critical truth: Not all institutions are equally equipped to serve students well—especially low-income students.

Federal programs like those funded in the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) can play a critical role here. Federal investments through FIPSE programs can help close persistent equity gaps by giving colleges the tools to do what wealthier schools take for granted. Under FIPSE, there are programs that strive to tackle the challenges facing higher education that fit into the dual strategy mentioned above by supporting evidence-based programs and providing funds to under-resourced schools.

For example, the Postsecondary Student Success Grant (PSSG) program takes the evidence-based approach. PSSG funds institutions to implement proven strategies like intrusive advising, success coaching, and emergency aid to improve student retention and completion rates. For example, in fiscal year 2024, Tulsa Community College received a more than $3.7 million grant to redesign the first-year student experience. Austin Community College used PSSG funds to reengage 7,000 students who had stopped out after 2020. The college partnered with a non-profit organization to offer targeted outreach and reenrollment coaching, and deployed its own Student Success Services advisors to deliver intensive, relationship-based advising to students nearing completion but at high risk of dropping out.

Other FIPSE programs target the lack of resources experienced by some institutions. For example, several different programs support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).

The federal investment in FIPSE programs also supports challenges faced by specific student populations. For example, the Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program helps to support institutions in addressing the basic needs of students. Other programs support rural students, students with disabilities, veteran students, and more.

Besides FIPSE, other programs created under title III and title V of the Higher Education Act, such as the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) provide competitive grants to colleges that are under-resourced and serve a high percentage of low-income students so that these institutions can improve their academic quality, fiscal stability, and institutional management. SIP grantees shared with New America that they could not have initiated many of their support programs without the funding.

These investments aren’t just good policy—they’re essential if we want to live up to the promise that higher education can be a true engine of opportunity for all. However, the Trump Administration’s recent “skinny budget” request puts all these critical investments at risk as it calls for zeroing out funding for FIPSE and SIP. This means that fewer institutions, especially those that mostly serve low-income and minority students, will have the resources to support students, resulting in fewer college graduates, which leaves not only those students worse off, but our workforce and economy in a weaker position.

As we celebrate College Completion Day, it's imperative to recognize that achieving a degree is not solely the result of individual effort but also the support systems in place. Investing in programs like PSSG, SIP, and FIPSE is not just beneficial for students: it's an investment in our nation’s future.

Rather than cutting the funding for these important programs, we should be investing in them more. By bolstering these programs, we can help ensure that every student has equal opportunity to complete their college education, leading to a more educated, equitable, and prosperous society.