Gallup finds that a single issue consistently challenges campus leaders — the difficulties they face in serving the needs of the “New Majority” of college students.
Dr. Elaine P. Maimon, president of Governors State University, defines the New Majority as a growing number of currently enrolled college students who face unique challenges financing their college experience. As Maimon outlines in Leading Academic Change: Vision, Strategy, Transformation, the New Majority includes first-generation college students, students of color, adults and military veterans. Their financial wellbeing has become a determining factor in their ability to engage in their schoolwork and their institution’s culture, to complete their education, and to achieve success upon graduation.
While a student’s school of choice, socio-economic status and career path will all affect their financial future, difficulty in paying for college has a lasting effect on a student’s likelihood of thriving later in life: Graduates who borrowed more than $25,000 to finance their undergraduate degree have lower rates of wellbeing upon graduation in every aspect of their wellbeing — not just their financial wellbeing.