Do We Really Have a College Access Problem?

As Harold Lasswell and his colleagues observed of the rhetoric of power (Language of Politics, 1965), some words become magic, with inexplicable powers attributed to them. has become such a word in the discourse of higher education. It's a rallying cry, a totem, as we have been reminded since the beginning of 2007. In late January, the New Foundation included A College Access Contract in its policy broadside Ten Big Ideas for a New America. In February, the annual meeting of the American Council on Education opened under the thematic banner of The Access Imperative. By March, the Congressional hopper had filled with three dozen pieces of proposed legislation affecting aspects of collegegoing that some call access, with grandiose titles such as Graduate for a Better Future Act, and the America COMPETES Act.