Call to Action

Our Coalition has come together because we see the promise of using incentives within the $226 billion financial aid system to help address our nation’s college completion challenge. Providing financial aid and just hoping for student success is not enough. We are confident that we can improve success while preserving the access to opportunity that is the hallmark of federal aid.

Financial aid policies in America today should reflect a new set of guiding principles:

• Build on our country’s historic investment in access by helping students not just enroll in higher education but also complete a credential with value to themselves and the economy;
• Focus federal resources on the neediest students;
• Innovate and evaluate new strategies to make a quality education more affordable and better suited for today’s students, including the adults enrolling in increasing numbers;
• Simplify aid and present students and parents with a clear and complete picture of their college costs, repayment obligations, and career and earnings prospects; and
• Hold institutions, states, and students accountable for completion.

While we may differ about the details of how to best accomplish these principles, we are united in our conviction that now is the time to act. Ultimately, the cost of doing nothing is too great for families as well as the country itself.