Reconceptualizing Access in Postsecondary Education. Report of the Policy Panel211 on Access. Policy Panel Meeting. Held in Washington, D.C. on September 9, 1997

摘要

The way in which postsecondary education defines access shapes other crucial211u001epolicy areas, such as student financial aid. Questions are constantly raised 211u001eabout what access means. For example, if a student matriculates and then drops 211u001eout, is that access. If a student is not able to enroll in his or her first 211u001echoice institution, but is able to enroll in another institution, is that access. 211u001eShould current access definitions be modified or expanded. Has postsecondary 211u001eeducation limited its vision for access by focusing on available data to the 211u001eexclusion of data that should be collected. At the National Postsecondary 211u001eEducation Cooperative's (NPEC) November 1996 Council meeting, Council members 211u001equestioned whether current access definitions should be modified or expanded and 211u001ewhether, to some extent, postsecondary education has limited its vision for 211u001eaccess by focusing on available data to the exclusion of what data should be 211u001ecollected. Other participants questioned whether or not postsecondary education 211u001ecould reach consensus on defining access. The Council members recommended that 211u001eNPEC initiate a project to (1) establish consensus and clarify access and policy 211u001elinkages with a particular emphasis on broadening access definitions to include 211u001eretention, satisfaction, and goal attainment, and (2) recommend new data 211u001ecollection efforts or analytical studies or changes to current efforts that 211u001ereflect a broader view of access.