This Graduation Season, We Should Celebrate – And Ask Who We’re Leaving Behind

As we enter graduation season, colleges across the country are celebrating students who made it to the finish line. That moment matters. Earning a degree or credential can open the door to better jobs, higher earnings, and long-term economic mobility. 

But as we celebrate, it’s worth asking a harder question: who isn’t in that room? 

The students higher education wasn’t built for 

Depending on how you measure it, between one-third and nearly half of undergraduates enroll part-time.¹ These students are often not simply choosing a different pace — they are navigating work, family, and financial constraints that make full-time enrollment difficult or unrealistic. More than half of part-time students work full-time, about a third are parents, and half are age 25 or older.² In fact, students who work full-time and attend school part-time make up nearly a quarter of all undergraduates.³

This is not a marginal population. It is a central part of higher education today. 

And yet, their outcomes tell a very different story. Students who enroll part-time are far less likely to persist and complete a credential than their full-time peers. Too often, they leave college without a degree but with debt — undermining the promise of higher education as a pathway to economic opportunity. 

That gap reflects how our systems are designed. Higher education is still largely built around a full-time model: fixed schedules, linear progression, and support systems tied to enrollment intensity. When students can’t meet those expectations, they lose access to the very structures that help drive success. 

The progress we’ve made — and its limits 

In recent years, we’ve made real progress in understanding how to help more students get there. Programs like CUNY ASAP have shown that when colleges are designed around student needs — through structured schedules, proactive advising, and financial support — completion rates and post-graduation earnings can rise dramatically. It’s one of the clearest examples in higher education that demonstrates meaningful improvements in student success are possible. 

However, there’s a critical limitation to that progress. Programs like CUNY ASAP are targeted towards students who can attend college full-time. For the millions who can’t, the evidence remains thin. 

Increasingly, the focus is on outcomes — whether students complete their program and whether their credentials lead to meaningful improvements in earnings and economic mobility. Completion alone is not enough; higher education must deliver a strong return on investment for students and taxpayers. 

The evidence gap we need to close 

Colleges and states are experimenting with new approaches, such as more flexible scheduling, shorter course formats, better integration with work, and expanded access to supports like childcare and public benefits. However, there is limited rigorous evidence on which strategies are most effective, scalable, and cost-effective. 

Today, Arnold Ventures is launching a new Request for Proposals to build the evidence base on what works to improve completion and long-term outcomes for students who attend part-time. By supporting rigorous, causal research, we will identify solutions that not only help more students finish, but ensure those credentials translate into real economic value for American families.