Why Bridges?
Understanding the Problem
65% of jobs require some level of postsecondary education, with 30% of those jobs requiring only some college or an associate’s degree. Additionally, the average tuition and fees at community colleges is less than ⅓ of the yearly cost at a four-year public institution and ⅒ of the cost at a four-year private nonprofit institution.
It’s more important than ever to build bridges to good jobs that earn living wages, sustain families, and offer continued career development and advancement.
The Opportunity Gap
Low-income students are often faced with challenges that impact their ability to develop skills beyond a high school diploma.
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Postsecondary students are often faced with challenges outside of school that impact their skill development, degree completion, and ultimately their job qualifications when entering the workforce. These challenges, like poverty, lack of affordable housing, lack of family support, and other competing responsibilities, are too often left to students to manage on their own.
To prepare students for careers that earn a living wage, we must invest in education pathways that recognize and support them through the unique, historic barriers they face. Strengthening the availability and access to quality opportunities for advancement allows us to meet the needs of low-income Chicagoans by addressing the systemic inequities that have long limited their options to obtaining higher earning careers.
The Support Gap
Institutions often lack supports that put students on pathways to careers, such as academic advising, wellness services, and career guidance.
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Postsecondary education has traditionally been built for students who have a network of support to help address challenges they face in postsecondary education. Institutions often lack comprehensive academic and financial support that put students on pathways to careers, as well as culturally competent social and emotional support that aid in program completion.
It is not enough to simply “get into college.” Students need a range of institutional and community supports in order to be successful, including accessible academic and career advising, coordinated student support services, mental health and wellness services, and overarching culture shifts that drive success for all students.
Research shows that offering these additional supports for students can be critical drivers of program completion with limited debt.
The Wealth Gap
According to Urban Institute, “Chicago typifies wealth inequity, with many households in northeast Cook County holding nearly $1 million in wealth, while just a few miles away, a quarter of households have negative wealth of $1,500 or less. We estimate a typical household’s wealth in the richest area of Chicago and Cook County is 206 times higher than a typical household’s wealth in the poorest area.”
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It is essential for all workers to be able to gain the economic security of obtaining well-compensated jobs capable of withstanding recessions, downturns, and changes in technology.
The lack of affordable postsecondary education is directly tied to the wage gap we see for low-income students or students who come from households with lower socioeconomic levels. Here in Chicago, less than half of households (48%) earn a living wage, according to the Metropolitan Planning Council, and the gap is even worse for Black and Latine families: less than 30% of Black households and roughly 36% of Latine households earn a living wage.
Affordable postsecondary education and workforce development programs are the solution.
The classic prescription of four-year college alone is a solution that does not reflect reality for many students.