What Makes a "Good College" — and Why It Matters | Cecilia M. Orphan | TED

Because I'm a college professor,

I'm going to start with a pop quiz.

(Laughter)

I want you to think of the best college in the country,

one that you would absolutely love to get into.

One that would change your life completely.

OK, do you have it?

I'm guessing if I went to the audience right now

and asked 100 different people which college they chose,

I'd hear the same names over and over and over again.

And that's because we have a huge problem in higher education.

We say we want colleges to be more equitable,

more transformational,

more accessible.

But we tend to obsess over a tiny group of colleges

most of us could never get into.

And it's not because we aren't smart enough.

It's because there isn't enough space for all of us.

These schools intentionally cap the number of students that they accept.

It's why Akil Bello, an advocate for fairness in college admissions,

calls them something else.

They're not prestigious universities.

They're highly rejective colleges.

(Laughter)

Places like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT.

And I'm not saying these schools are bad.

They're obviously major research institutions.

But our cultural obsession

with a limited group of highly rejective colleges

has major consequences.

I'm the first person in my immediate family to graduate from college.

(Cheers and applause)

And Portland State University,

a regional public university in Portland, Oregon,

truly changed my life.

(Cheers and applause)

But for a long time,

when someone at a networking event asked me where I went to college,

I worried that they'd judge my intellect

and my aspirations when I answered.

Now I research higher education

to understand how our perceptions of which colleges are good

shape important decisions we make about which schools to fund,

donate to, attend, and send our children to.

Regional public universities, or RPUs for short,

are the exact opposite of highly rejective colleges.

You can spot them because their name tells you which communities they serve.

Western Colorado University,

Northern Kentucky University,

Eastern Washington University.

In New York, they're the SUNY and the CUNY schools.

In California, they're the 23 CSU campuses.

They’re called “normal schools” in China,

“Fachschule” in Germany

and “provincial colleges” in Canada and Italy.

These are the universities that train the nurses

who take care of you when you go to the hospital,

the school teachers who educate your children

and the small business leaders that create jobs in your home town.

Regional public universities, or RPUs, pride themselves on accepting everyone

or almost everyone who applies.

And RPU students are more likely to be first generation college students

like I was,

students of color, low-income students,

veterans and adults balancing work and family while going to school.

And RPU students often don't have the test scores required

to get into a highly rejective college.

Not because they aren't capable,

but because they weren't given the same advantages as other students.

My mother was a brilliant woman who had an eighth-grade education,

and she died when she was just 43 years old

of a totally preventable asthma attack

because she lived in a rural, remote community

and lacked access to health care.

I grew up in poverty

and my test scores were lower

because I prepared for the SATs by showing up on test day

with a sharpened number-two pencil and a calculator,

rather than taking expensive test prep courses.

People sometimes talk about regional public universities in negative ways

by calling some “the 13th grade”

or saying, “anyone can get in,” as if that’s a bad thing.

Or saying they're not real universities.

But shouldn't colleges be judged by how many people they include

and raise to the same level of academic excellence

rather than by how many people they exclude?

By how well they address the pressing challenges

facing their local communities?

Take Adams State University in southern rural Colorado.

Thirty-eight percent of the university’s students are Latinx

and half are first in their families to go to college.

This is Colorado's most affordable university,

and it's one of just a few in the entire country

to offer graduate degrees to students who are currently incarcerated

and working to change their lives.

It contributes 83.5 million dollars each year to the local economy.

Regional public universities like Adams State University

generate more upward mobility than any other type of college.

But you'll never find it

on a list of America's most prestigious universities.

And it doesn't get the funding it deserves.

Ironically, the colleges that already have the largest endowments

tend to receive the biggest charitable donations.

Recently, Michael Bloomberg gave Johns Hopkins University

a donation of 1.8 billion dollars.

And this is an incredibly generous gift.

But before the donation,

Johns Hopkins had an endowment of 3.8 billion dollars,

and it rejects 89 percent of all students who apply.

By contrast, Adams State University,

which prides itself by accepting the top 99 percent of students,

has an endowment of just 63,000 dollars.

Not million, not billion,

63,000 dollars.

Shockingly low.

Now, Johns Hopkins produces vital research.

But let's imagine, if Michael Bloomberg had spread that donation

across the 430 RPUs in the country,

each would have received four million dollars.

Now imagine if your net worth went from being 63,000 dollars

to four million dollars.

Your life would be pretty different, wouldn't it?

Unfortunately, the government only makes this issue worse.

In the United States and throughout the world,

far more public funding goes to highly rejective colleges

than to regional public universities.

Because of this, RPUs have become more expensive,

which hurts low-income students

and has caused student loan debt to skyrocket.

If I were 18 years old right now,

I honestly don’t know if I could afford to go to college

given how much tuition has increased

and how little public funding has kept up.

If we really want more low-income students to go to college,

if we really want equity in higher education,

we need to put our money where our mouth is

and fund regional public universities.

Now, many of us have been on the receiving end

of calls from our alumni association,

and I don't think the ink was dry on my diploma when my phone rang.

For my generous friends who may have gone to a highly rejective college,

and don't worry, I'm not mad at you --

(Laughter)

But instead of giving to your alma mater,

which is probably already very wealthy,

consider giving it to the colleges that really need it.

To the RPUs that truly serve their communities.

Last year, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott

gave 1.5 billion dollars to 73 different colleges and universities

that serve low-income students

and students of color.

Xavier University of Louisiana,

maybe not a household name,

but did you know that they send more Black graduates to medical school

than any other college in the country?

She gave them 20 million dollars.

And guess what?

That was the largest gift they had ever received.

And that was true for most of the schools on her list.

Places like Long Beach City College,

the University of Central Florida,

CSU Northridge.

Many of these schools are regional public universities

that so rarely get large donations that her gift was transformative.

There's no better way to make a difference in higher education

than to give to the colleges

that change the lives of their students and communities.

But this isn't all about money.

We all have the power

to change the way we think about

and talk about regional public universities,

or stop people when they frame them in negative ways.

So when you hear someone saying,

"Oh, anyone can get into that school,"

push them on why that's a bad thing.

You don't have to be rude about it.

You could just say,

"Wow, that's amazing

that that school gives so many people the opportunity to go to college."

I'm living proof

that no matter where you were born

or how much money your parents have,

you should have the opportunity to go to a college

that supports your growth

and fosters your dreams.

When we change the way we define prestige

and fund regional public universities,

we will make higher education equitable once and for all.

Thank you.

(Cheers and applause)