It’s time to LEVEL UP & Get REAL for Black Learner Excellence
Everyone deserves access to relevant, quality, and affordable post-secondary education that helps them achieve career goals, build generational prosperity, and strengthen communities.
For Black learners, this education has not been as accessible as it is for their peers. Across the country, community college enrollment among Black students has dropped 44% since 2011. For those who are enrolled, 1 in 5 Black students across all postsecondary institutions report feeling discriminated against. Additionally, 80% of Black Americans believe college is unaffordable.
To address these disparities and ensure Black learners have what they need to excel, our schools and laws must change.
From community colleges to four-year private universities to other credential programs, Black learners — like all learners — deserve postsecondary education options that ensure the time and energy they commit will leave them better off than when they started.
Dr. Keith Curry“The precipitous, unrelenting decline in Black community college enrollment since 2011 is the canary in the mine for American higher education. Black learners, like other learners, are not seeing a valuable, welcoming, and career-connected experience in higher education today.”
From LEVEL UP“State and federal institutions and policymakers at all levels have a responsibility to ensure that places of higher education are accessible and welcoming to all, regardless of a student’s race or background.”
LEVEL UP is a research, policy, and advocacy initiative examining the persistent decline in enrollment of Black learners at American postsecondary institutions, particularly at community colleges—a critical gateway to affordable, reliable and accessible degrees and credentials and a clear opportunity to increase pathways and social mobility for Black learners.
We believe that in order to improve access and opportunity for Black learner excellence and success, we must LEVEL UP our commitment on behalf of Black learners by taking action to Leverage Explicit Value for Every Black Learner, Unapologetically.