Higher education is facing significant challenges, with many students and parents pushing back against steep expenses. Through a series of opinion pieces, university leaders outline their strategies for maintaining college affordability. This installment is the second in the series.
Here are some recent takeaways about higher education that are capturing national focus: College is unaffordable and excessively costly, extremely selective and unfair, biased and conformist.
A recent report from Yale highlights these as among the primary public views and worries fueling diminishing confidence in higher education.
Yet, as the report accurately observes, elite private institutions such as Yale constitute only a small fraction of American colleges and universities. America’s regional public universities (RPUs) — which we represent — enroll 70 percent of the nation’s 7 million undergraduates at public four-year institutions and generate two-thirds of the baccalaureate and master’s degrees earned at those schools, based on our examination of federal data. Our institutions present a much different narrative of higher education than elite schools do — and it is a narrative we believe needs to be shared.
Yale deserves acknowledgment for tackling the trust issue. Although it and other elite schools occupy a disproportionate role in the public perception of what college is and whom it serves, some of the concerns the report highlights are legitimate and widely shared: Expense is a genuine obstacle to enrollment and completion for numerous students. And doubt about the worth of a degree is reasonable as recent graduates try to start their careers amid a challenging entry-level job market.
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The actual situation of RPUs, however, contests other aspects of the Yale report’s findings.
Consider affordability. Families naturally question whether college is attainable when they learn about tuition exceeding $70,000 annually at elite universities. According to an AASCU analysis of the College Scorecard and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, however, the average in-state tuition and fees at RPUs are approximately $10,000 per year, and 97 percent of our financially dependent students graduate with a median debt under $20,000.
Expense is a primary reason we disproportionately enroll Pell Grant recipients and low-income students. Regional public universities often serve as an affordable pathway to a college degree.
Related: How much will that college cost you? Good luck figuring it out.
RPUs focus on guaranteeing that every student has a chance to succeed. We expand opportunity by making access, not exclusion, central to our mission. Our admissions policies aim not to gain prestige but to enhance lives. We facilitate smooth transfers from community colleges by building strong ties with those institutions. We also provide flexible degree options, including part-time and online programs, because many of our students commute and juggle work and family obligations. Consequently, RPUs better reflect the broader public that higher education is intended to serve, enrolling larger shares of students of color, first-generation students, working adults, transfer students and veterans compared to non-RPUs.
And, while our institutions are not exempt from challenges related to free speech, conformity and self-censorship, the diversity of RPU students’ experiences often fosters viewpoint diversity, and RPUs acknowledge the need to do more to integrate the principles of civil discourse and free expression into campus life.
THE LATEST IN THE SERIES
OPINION: If higher education wants to rebuild public trust, start with making college affordable
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In Michigan, for instance, Grand Valley State University operates a Center for Civil Discourse, while Oakland University has broadened opportunities for students to engage across differences through its Center for Civic Engagement. Another example is a recently initiated pilot program at Oakland University, where students read “The Civility Book” by journalists Nolan Finley (a conservative) and Stephen Henderson (a progressive). Through guided dialogue, these students learn to challenge their assumptions, listen more attentively and return to difficult conversations with greater openness and empathy.
Like many RPUs, Oakland University achieves strong results: OU graduates have median earnings 27 percent higher than those of alumni from comparable Michigan public institutions and 32 percent higher than those of workers without a college degree. Graduates build meaningful careers in fields ranging from health care to teaching to the local automotive industry.
The Yale report points to widespread confusion about the core mission of higher education. But that mission becomes clearer when we focus on the universities that educate and elevate far more students.
RPUs maintain trust in the American dream by offering affordable and accessible paths to lives of purpose, achievement and active citizenship.
That is a mission worthy of the public’s confidence.
Charles L. Welch is president and CEO of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and a first-generation student.
Ora Hirsch Pescovitz is president of Oakland University and chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Board of Directors.
Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org.
This story about regional public universities was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.
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by Charles L. Welch and Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, The Hechinger Report June 10, 2026