Breaking with Tradition: Adult Learners are Essential to Illinois’ 60 x 25 Goal Sarah Labadie Policy Associate (312) ext. 231 ISAC MAP Eligibility Task Force September 26, 2012

Since Mobilizing people & organizations to expand educational and employment opportunities for America’s working women. Increasing access to and success in education & training by: Increasing financial aid Improving support services Improving educational programs

Adults in Higher Education More than 50% of all postsecondary students are independent adults, many of whom have been out of school for a significant amount of time About 72% have an expected family contribution of 0 Over 50% attend college less than full-time Nearly 40% work part-time And 27% are parents The majority of “non-traditional students” are female and attend community colleges.

MAP Grant Awards by Dependency Status and Institution Type

Illinois’ 60 x 25 goal – to ensure that 60% of adults have a college credential by 2025 – is vital to our state and its residents. To remain globally competitive, the U.S. and each state should ensure that at least 60% of adults ages 25 to 64 have an associate or bachelor's degree by In Illinois, the current rate is 41.3%.

College Degrees Mean Higher Income: Illinoisans with a college degree will earn more over a lifetime than their peers with only a high school diploma.

More Jobs Require Higher Education By 2018, over 63% of jobs in Illinois (and nearly two-thirds of jobs in the nation) will require some postsecondary education or training. Source: as cited by Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) and NCHEMS The Economic Imperative for More Adults to Complete College: Illinois

60 x 25 Goal will Generate Revenue By meeting the 60 percent credential goal, Illinois will generate more annual revenue.

Under current postsecondary investment patterns, Illinois' state revenues will decrease by about $140 million in Source:

By meeting the 60% credential goal, Illinois will generate more annual revenue, topping approximately $1.9 billion in Source:

Adults currently in the workforce are vital to meeting the 60 x 25 goal. Why? Do the Math. To meet the 60 x 25 goal, we will have to produce an additional 595,296 degrees or certificates above our current graduation rate. Source:

Can We Do It With Graduating High School Students Alone? If we improve our high school graduation rates to 100% and ALSO manage to raise our college going rate from 57.4% to 95%, we would still end up short of our goal. And while ensuring every high school student graduates is a worthy goal, it is unlikely to happen. So How Will We Do It? By helping more working age adults earn college credentials:

We need to target adults to return to school and complete certificates and degrees. If we increase the number of year olds enrolled in college by just two percentage points from 1.22% to 3.2%, then we are more than halfway to our goal – we’ll gain 344,000 credentials. Source:

Financial aid is critical to adult student access and success in college

College Costs and Financial Aid Average tuition and fees at a community college: $3,117 Yearly cost of books: $1,000 Average Pell Grant for independent student: $3,721 Average MAP award for independent student (if received): $2,088

Living Costs in Illinois Average yearly cost of renting a two- bedroom in Illinois: $10,000 Yearly cost of utilities: $2,000 Yearly cost of transportation: $5,000 Yearly food and drink: $6,000 Total: $23,000 Source:

Other Issues: Pell Changes Changes in the income amount for automatic 0 EFC Cut Ability to Benefit students, affecting about 90,000 students now and more in the future More possible in the future

Potential Scenarios Create a pot of money for independent students who apply later Set aside money for students who are close to completion, especially adults who many have used MAP years ago Create a pot of money for students previously covered by Ability to Benefit provisions in Pell who cannot receive it anymore

To meet the college completion goals of tomorrow, we must include the adults of today.

Breaking with Tradition: Adult Learners are Essential to Illinois’ 60 x 25 Goal Sarah Labadie Policy Associate (312) ext. 231 ISAC MAP Eligibility Task Force September 26, 2012