Strategy 4: Support Learner Thriving in Education, Work, and Life
Symbol Legend
Promising Practice
Commission Recommendation
Learners’ basic needs must be met for them to be able to learn and work. As places where learners spend a significant amount of time, K–12 and postsecondary educational institutions can play a significant role in connecting learners and their families with social services and material goods they may need, such as healthy food, clothing, and other supplies. Access to mental and physical health care is also key to promoting school attendance and lifelong success. These types of supports create environments that allow learners to thrive.
Recommendation 8
Meet Learners’ Basic Needs
Learners’ education is impacted by their societal and community context and mental and physical health. Many learners, especially those who are not receiving financial support from their families or those who are making a career shift, may face financial insecurity while pursuing postsecondary education and training. As learners and workers face a rising cost of living, growing personal debt, and mismatched housing supply, concerns about affording essential goods and services are top of mind while considering options for education, training, service, and career after high school.106 When learners are experiencing food or housing insecurity, transportation disruptions, or health challenges, they are more likely to be absent from class or work and stop or drop out of their program.107
“As long as I’m not homeless, I’m good. That’s really it. . . . Have a job that’s stable and I’m fine. That’s really it.”
—High school student in Pennsylvania
Streamline and Expand Wraparound Supports on Campus and in Communities
School-based wraparound supports, whether in a K–12 or higher education setting, can be crucial for meeting learners’ basic needs and helping them be ready to learn. Such wraparound or integrated student supports describe a model in which a school-employed coordinator helps to assess learners in need and connect them to various services they may be eligible for and benefit from, including mental health care or housing and nutrition assistance.108 A dedicated coordinator in this position can be informed about and familiar with the appropriate contacts at other social service agencies and community-based organizations and can serve as a trusted liaison for families who need additional support. Streamlining referrals and eligibility applications for these services can remove significant time and informational barriers for learners and families in need.
A promising model for coordinated provision of wraparound services in K–12 schools is community schools, an integrated, student-centered approach that situates schools as hubs for academic instruction alongside health, social, and family support services, typically implemented through a full-time community school coordinator position in partnership with community-based organizations and social service agencies. One such program, the California Community Schools Partnership, was shown to improve attendance and academic proficiency, and to do so most effectively among historically underserved learners.109
Food insecurity can be a significant barrier to learners. If learners are hungry or feel pressure to work to afford food while in school, their ability to focus in class and dedicate time and attention to schoolwork may be compromised. Some K–12 schools partner with local food pantries and will drop off a bag of prepackaged meals or groceries in learners’ classrooms or lockers before they leave on Friday in case they do not have consistent access to food over the weekend. Many colleges have food pantries on campus available to learners.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS the provision and streamlining of school-based wraparound supports, including the expansion of the community schools model and campus food pantries.
Expand Access to Community- and School-Based Behavioral, Mental, and Physical Health Care
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans ages fifteen to twenty-five face increasing rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. At the college level, learners may continue to grapple with academic demands, financial stress, social isolation, and the pressures of transitioning to adulthood. The “Healthy Minds Study,” for instance, reported a jump in depression rates among college learners from 22 percent in 2019 to 41 percent by 2023.110 Long-standing pressures include a focus on performing well academically, navigating complex peer relationships, and meeting societal expectations, which can be amplified by financial, food, and housing insecurity.
Locating health care services in educational settings can improve access and reduce barriers due to inequities in health care coverage and provider availability by geography.111 Efforts to further normalize and destigmatize behavioral and mental health care are also critical to supporting all learners in meeting their basic needs.
The Youth Mental Health Corps is a promising model of cross-sector partnership among schools, mental health providers, service-year programs, youth, and philanthropy, currently active in eleven states. This model meets learners in need where they are, at schools, community-based programs, or community health centers, to provide peer support. Serving as a navigator with the corps also provides service and work experience to young people ages eighteen to twenty-four who are interested in exploring a career in health care.112
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS increasing access to behavioral, mental, and physical health care by providing more health services at educational institutions and developing partnerships with local health centers and providers to refer learners to appropriate providers.
Recommendation 9
Advise and Mentor Learners, Alumni, and Workers
The landscape of postsecondary education and career options can be overwhelming for learners and families. Pointing learners in the direction of a door and telling them to open it and walk through is not enough. Across the United States, education and workforce systems offer up hundreds of doors without clear labels, paths to reach them, or a view of what might be on the other side. Aiming for a door only to realize you do not fit in, cannot schedule classes around your work shifts, or are not interested in the field can be an expensive and time-consuming mistake.
Advising that is aligned to a learner’s interests, strengths, and values can be life-changing if it helps them find the best postsecondary path. In the twenty-first century, college and career advising can take many shapes, be it a person, an online portal, or an AI chatbot. As learners and employees navigate a lifelong career and education journey, an innovative solution for advising could be a system in which a learner builds a strong, trusting relationship with an adviser who might not be employed by a specific educational institution and who could, alongside AI-enabled tools, continue to advise that learner throughout their education and career.
Facilitate Partnerships to Improve High-Quality Advising in High School and College
Most high schools do not have sufficient capacity to support college and career advising for learners. In the 2023–2024 school year, only three states—Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Vermont—met the recommended student-to-counselor ratio of 250:1; the national average was 376:1.113 High-poverty schools and schools with a majority of learners of color are less likely to be well-resourced with counselors and have greater need for additional counselors to reduce their caseloads and provide better advising services to support learners in their career and college exploration.114
To address this supply challenge, some schools have created partnerships for college admissions officers to provide college advising services at local, lower-resourced high schools. However, this model has significant capacity constraints because college admissions officers can visit only a limited number of local schools.
In Washington, D.C., some high school principals allocate funding to a full-time college and career coordinator position to lead schoolwide capacity-building efforts on advising.115 This dedicated position supports students in grades 9 to 12 with developing a postsecondary plan and organizes schoolwide events to explore college and career options. This additional staff capacity can increase personalized advising and help learners navigate registering for college entrance exams and completing financial aid and scholarship applications.
Less costly and effective methods for growing advising capacity in high schools include “train the trainer” models, facilitated networks of advisers, and additional capacity provided by service programs. Too few high school counselors are trained to be effective college and career advisers and have other duties, such as responding to mental and behavioral health crises. Learners may also have stronger relationships with specific teachers, coaches, or other adults whom they see more frequently than their school counselor. Facilitated networks of advisers can include digital training resources and access to subject-matter experts to provide additional support as needed.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that education leaders across K–12 and postsecondary education systems collaborate to ensure that high school teachers and counselors have information about and understand the full breadth of local colleges and career and service opportunities for their learners.
Leverage Online Tools to Support All Paths and Complement In-Person Advising
Given shortages of school counselors and staff trained in college and career advising, learners and families would benefit from access to technology-enabled tools to provide more information about potential postsecondary paths, including nonlinear paths and options for reengagement and transparency about potential outcomes. Online platforms and tools could assist learners and families in understanding college and career options, and these tools should be seen as a complement to efforts to increase the capacity of in-person advising.
Some states have created websites and portals that detail various career pathways and connect educational opportunities that align with the state’s high-demand occupations. One example is Delaware Pathways.116 This online tool allows learners to explore the various career pathways offered at middle and high schools and draw connections to relevant career-connected learning and postsecondary education options.117
Some portals walk learners through a series of guides based on their grade level to inform them of steps they can take to better prepare for postsecondary education and to help them explore various career fields. One of these portals, My Texas Future, also hosts the ApplyTexas college application and the state’s direct admission program.118 This one-stop shop allows middle and high school students as well as adult learners to explore education and career options and easily take the next step to apply to any public university and many community and private colleges.
These sites are most beneficial when they detail the education and training needed and average wages and benefits in the career field. States can also provide online guidance regarding postsecondary educational options and service-year programs. Online advising can be made available for learners to use alongside in-person advising to further inform their postsecondary choices, with priority given to tools that maintain data privacy and offer age-appropriate content for minors.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that state education policymakers, educators, and industry associations collaborate to provide information on various higher education, service, and career paths, including the postsecondary education and training necessary to advance in each career, and to develop online advising tools that are easily accessible for learners, families, counselors, and educators.
Embed Mentoring Throughout High School, College, and Career
Extensive research illustrates the numerous benefits of having a coach or mentor in supporting learners’ career planning, job-search behaviors, and job-search self-efficacy.119 A central challenge in the U.S. education system is the many transition points as learners move from one school to another, build new relationships, and navigate disparate standards and funding opportunities. Many high school graduates would benefit from programming such as alumni cohorts, career coaching, and other support as they continue their postsecondary journeys.
College Track, one of the nation’s most comprehensive college completion programs, provides ten years of support to first-generation learners from underresourced communities in high school, through college, and after graduation. College Track continues to host regional events for alumni to connect to one another, to current learners, and to industry leaders.120 This example of a nonprofit organization bridging critical transition points for learners demonstrates the value of sustained, trusted relationships for advising learners as they make decisions about and navigate their postsecondary years.
Several examples of programs that partner college learners with high school students, such as Math Corps, or campus programs that employ college learners to work with their peers, such as college writing centers, focus on tutoring, coaching, and advising.121 These types of “near-peer” programs provide dual benefits of short-term academic support for K–12 students, who may be struggling, and exposure to peers who have pursued various postsecondary education and career paths that may influence the learners’ own postsecondary choices, with long-term benefits.
Outside classrooms, learners also benefit from sustained relationship building with mentors, personally through extracurricular activities in sports or the arts and professionally as they begin to explore their target industry of interest. Community-based organizations and extracurricular activities can be an important venue for building long-lasting relationships across school and life transitions. Having a mentor who encourages learners to pursue their goals is an important college experience linked to life preparedness.122 In the workplace, mentorship or, even better, sponsorship can greatly increase an employee’s motivation to navigate challenges and can develop into reciprocal growth for both the mentor and mentee over time.123
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that high schools, higher education institutions, service-year programs, and other programs for learners develop alumni cohorts that are supported by ongoing mentorship, the sharing of relevant information throughout transition points, and career coaching. The Commission also recommends that school districts and higher education institutions collaborate to create and expand mentorship, sponsorship, tutoring, and other programs that connect college learners to local K–12 students to foster near-peer relationships.
Recommendation 10
Improve and Expand Access to Financial Aid
Affordability remains a large concern for learners and families considering postsecondary education options, as some schools raise the sticker price of tuition and fees even while the net price of attendance has been falling.124 During commission listening sessions, learners from lower-income families shared that they not only felt pressure to support themselves and their families in the short term with a job during and after high school but saw obstacles in the way of their further education and future earning potential. High school students repeatedly said that they did not feel prepared to make postsecondary decisions because they did not understand the financial implications of different options. Both high school and college learners felt they would have benefited from learning the financial basics of “adulting,” such as opening a bank account, buying a car, and renting an apartment during their educational journeys. Financial education and literacy related to various aspects of education, work, and life after high school are critical components in giving learners more agency in their decisions.
Create and Fund Postsecondary Savings Accounts
Research shows that, in addition to a more widely understood finding that greater household assets increase a learner’s likelihood of enrolling in college, the possession of liquid assets in a child’s early years, before age ten, has a positive impact on children’s postsecondary opportunities. Further, recent research on college savings accounts opened at birth and seeded with a modest initial deposit has found these accounts are an effective tool to reduce both financial and nonfinancial barriers, with impacts on elementary academic achievement, increased savings for postsecondary opportunity, and increased hopes and expectations for children’s postsecondary education among parents.125 Eligibility for these savings accounts could mirror other financial aid programs such as Pell Grants or state-based financial aid.
Across the country, promising city and state government–led pilots are generating strong research and momentum that can and should be built upon, including SEED for Oklahoma Kids and CollegeBound in Saint Paul, Minnesota.126 As one of the nation’s largest college-savings programs, the popularity of Pennsylvania’s 529 accounts has been bolstered by state incentives, such as seed funding of $100 for every baby born or adopted in the state and tax-code provisions making contributions deductible from state income taxes.127 A recent study also found a correlation between the number of 501(c)(3) nonprofits in a zip code and increased college-savings behavior, highlighting the importance of community-based organizations partnering with schools and state treasuries to help families navigate these resources.128
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS the automatic creation of college savings accounts for all children with an initial deposit that will grow over time and that can be used for a wide variety of postsecondary education options.
Develop Financial Literacy and Promote FAFSA Completion
Information is power, especially when making financial decisions. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the key to unlocking public funding for postsecondary education. Schools should develop informational materials and make counselors available to support learners and families in completing and filing the FAFSA form. Trusted community-based organizations, like public libraries, members of the National College Attainment Network, and local United Way branches can also be valuable partners in supporting families with FAFSA completion.
“[For what comes next, I feel] physically and mentally and academically prepared, but not financially.”
—High school student in Pennsylvania
Transparent and accessible information about financial aid is critical in helping learners and families understand the various options available to them. Many learners and families see the high price tag for college tuition but do not know they may be eligible for financial aid, including grant-based aid.129
Currently, thirteen states (Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas) have passed legislation or incentives that require or encourage high school students to complete the FAFSA before graduation.130 These policies often include provisions that allow families to opt out through a formal waiver process. Many states provide alternate forms and state financial aid for immigrant-origin students who are not eligible for federal financial aid.131 FAFSA completion requirements are intended to increase access to financial aid and promote postsecondary enrollment by ensuring that learners receive information about available federal, state, and institutional aid opportunities.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS that states and school districts ensure that all high school students demonstrate financial literacy, particularly related to their postsecondary plans, and complete the FAFSA or submit a waiver before graduation.
Expand Financial and Emergency Aid
Federal Pell Grants, financial aid for learners with significant financial need, have been a powerful tool in expanding access to and accelerating the completion of postsecondary degrees. The recent expansion of the Pell Grant program to include short-term education and training programs aligned with high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand occupations will open more doors to opportunity for more people. However, this program faces a funding cliff as costs have risen. Without increased funding, the Pell Grant program will be unable to meet demand.132
Most states also provide financial aid to learners who demonstrate great need. “College promise” programs vary by state but usually cover all tuition costs for some learners to attend an institution of higher education.133 Streamlined eligibility requirements that align with other state-funded benefits and easily understood communications regarding these programs help to reduce barriers for the intended beneficiaries.
States also vary in the funding they provide for dual-enrollment programs, an important pathway to college exposure (see Recommendation 6). Some states directly cover tuition for high school students taking college courses, while other models allow school districts to allocate per-pupil funding to these costs or encourage higher education institutions to subsidize tuition for learners.134 However, some states expect families to cover these tuition costs, which introduces a financial barrier to this path to opportunity.
A nationally recognized success, The City University of New York’s (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) provides comprehensive support to learners pursuing associate degrees, including financial aid for tuition and fees, textbook stipends, and transit cards alongside personalized advising, tutoring, and career services.135 This model is now being replicated and adapted to other state contexts. One such effort called “Boost,” funded by Arnold Ventures, is being implemented across North Carolina community colleges. A key feature of the program is financial support to learners in the form of a monthly stipend, annual funds to pay for textbooks, and tuition and fees for summer courses.136
Individuals need to have their basic needs met to learn and succeed. A clear positive impact has been demonstrated from the distribution of small emergency financial grants to help learners cover car repairs, medical bills, and other unexpected expenses, especially among learners at minority-serving institutions.137 The provision of small grants that do not need to be repaid can help learners quickly recover from an unexpected expense, stay on track with class attendance, and focus on their studies.
THE COMMISSION RECOMMENDS increasing the amount and accessibility of federal financial aid like Pell Grants, state financial aid like “college promise” programs, as well as institutional and other funding sources that support learners in pursuing postsecondary education and training. The Commission also recommends increasing funding for and reducing restrictions on emergency aid for learners to support basic needs.