{"id":13648,"date":"2025-07-08T16:58:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T16:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/collegetrack.wpenginepowered.com\/?post_type=press&#038;p=13648"},"modified":"2026-07-09T14:49:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:49:48","slug":"opinion-a-college-degree-opens-doors-but-only-when-we-remove-obstacles-for-young-people","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/collegetrack.org\/es\/articles\/opinion-a-college-degree-opens-doors-but-only-when-we-remove-obstacles-for-young-people\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: A college degree opens doors, but only when we remove obstacles for young people"},"template":"","community_tax":[],"article_type":[140],"partner":[],"program":[],"class_list":["post-13648","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_type-news-articles"],"acf":{"details":{"featured_image":4442,"authors":"","abstract":"America\u2019s future depends on more first-generation students from underestimated communities earning an affordable bachelor\u2019s degree.","helper_taxonomies":{"article_type":[140],"community_tax":false,"partner":false,"program":false,"role":false,"region":false}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<img class=\"wp-image-4442 size-medium alignleft\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Shirley-M.-Collado-2022-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Shirley M. Collado\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><em><strong>This story by Shirley M. Collado, Ph.D. was original published July 7, 2025 in The Hechinger Report.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><em><strong>The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>\r\n\r\n\"I recently stood before hundreds of young people in California\u2019s Central Valley; more than 60 percent were on that day becoming the first in their family to earn a bachelor\u2019s degree.\r\n\r\nTheir very\u00a0presence at University of California, Merced\u2019s spring commencement ceremony disrupted a major narrative in our nation about who college is for \u2014 and the value of a degree.\r\n\r\nMan<span style=\"font-size: 1rem; color: #333333;\">y of thes<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; color: #333333;\">e you<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; color: #333333;\">ng people arrived already balancing jobs, caregiving responsibilities and family obligations. Many were Pell Grant-eligible and came from communities that are constantly underestimated and where a higher education experience is a rarity.\"\r\n\r\nThese students graduated college at a critical moment in American history: a time when the value of a bachelor\u2019s degree is being called into question, when public trust in higher education is vulnerable and when supports for first-generation college students are eroding. Yet an affordable bachelor\u2019s degree remains the No. 1 lever for financial, professional and social mobility in this country.\r\n<\/span>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/opinion-a-college-degree-opens-doors-but-only-when-we-remove-obstacles-for-young-people\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here to read the full story.<\/a>","":null,"drop_cap":false,"helper_width":""}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>OPINION: A college degree opens doors, but only when we remove obstacles for young people - College Track<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/collegetrack.org\/es\/articles\/opinion-a-college-degree-opens-doors-but-only-when-we-remove-obstacles-for-young-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OPINION: A college degree opens doors, but only when we remove obstacles for young people - College Track\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This story by Shirley M. 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