College success can be the key to financial stability. Every year, millions of women seeking a better future for themselves and their families make the decision to go or return to college. But far too many are stopped short by institutional racial, ethnic, and gender biases. For example, traditional ways of testing and placing students into developmental education are flawed. Though remedial education is valuable for those who need it, research shows that many students may be required to complete unnecessary developmental or remedial coursework that eats up time and financial aid dollars. Students may enroll at the college or university nearest to them, which isn’t receiving enough funding to provide a wide array of programs.

In Illinois, Black and Latina/o/x students are woefully under-represented in public higher education. The state has completion gaps between Black and Latina/o/x students compared to White students of as much as 30 points in some cases. National studies have graded Illinois at Ds and Fs in relation to representative completion. And Illinois public universities are among the most expensive for in-state residents, and those that receive most of the state appropriations enroll lower numbers of Black and Latina/o/x students.

That, paired with significant barriers to enrollment, completion, and affordability for students of color contributes to damaging racial achievement gaps in higher education.

We need a better way to determine who is ready for college, to support those who are not, and to adequately and equitably fund the institutions they attend, so that more students can succeed in their pursuit of a degree leading to a job with family-sustaining wages.