It’s time to reclaim the promise of higher education by ensuring that all have access to high-quality and affordable higher education. Reclaiming the promise is about ensuring rigorous instruction that is student centered and faculty-driven, while supporting independent and innovative research.

Reclaiming the promise is about making college affordable and accessible to all and relieving the burdens of those costs that have been shifted onto students and families.

Reclaiming the promise is about fostering diverse institutions that provide a richer educational environment for all students.

Reclaiming the promise is about ensuring students are taught and mentored by faculty and staff who are well-prepared, professionally supported and have a voice in academic decisions.

The promise is under attack by those who demand and pursue austerity, polarization, privatization and deprofessionalization.

An accessible, affordable and high-quality system of public higher education is critical to the health of the nation—both to ensure that students reach their fullest potential, and to enable the United States to continue to develop as a just society, a vibrant democracy and an engine of economic opportunity.

By uniting our voices—students, parents, faculty, staff and the community—we can reclaim the promise.