Recently I’ve been contemplating our collective zeal to increase the number of college-credentialed citizens. Don’t get me wrong. The goal is worthy: rebuild a prosperous, engaged America able to successfully compete in a global economy. Who can argue with that?  Yet simply creating a means for everyone to hold a diploma will miss the mark. I realize that sounds odd coming from a higher ed advocate.  But a diploma is only as strong as the person who earns it and the goal it helps the holder reach. To ensure our highly credentialed citizenry can apply their education to meaningful work, programs must include four hallmarks for student success: individual guidance, educational quality, good jobs and reasonable student debt.

Guidance. High school guidance counselors can only do so much with ratios of 400-600 students per counselor (state by state data here). Private educational coaches and consultants are expensive and may offer little in the way of career advice.  Adult students have few educational guidance resources prior to enrolling in a college. Life coaches and therapists can listen and provide feedback, but educational guidance counselors for adults are few and far between. Before investing time and money, learners of all ages need practical, personalized guidance to identify a program of study that is a good all-around match. What can we do to meet this need, even a little bit?

Education quality. This spring, legislators across the country made historically-deep cuts to public higher education budgets; cuts that will be felt over the next few years. Yet, students continue to pour into classrooms expecting to launch (or return to) a comfortable lifestyle.  To meet student demand with fewer resources, many schools are increasing class size and replacing full-time faculty with low-paid adjuncts – aka, academic temps (for the record, I am an adjunct).  With larger classes and temp teachers, how will schools monitor and maintain the quality of classroom instruction and learning at their institution?

In addition, the influx of adult learners has been a huge boon to for-profit schools, many of which require little more than a high school degree for entrance (I’ve taught for them, too).  Although many for-profits offer quality programs, make no mistake, these are businesses selling a product: degrees. They have a duty to their shareholders to maximize market opportunities. Adults in economic crisis who lack a degree or need a new one are a ripe market. If this sounds callous, I ask you, how many for-profit school ads have you seen today? What are these businesses doing to ensure the quality of their degrees is equivalent in the job market to their public and non-profit competitors?

Good jobs. Even if 100% of Americans had a post-secondary credential by tomorrow, it wouldn’t guarantee a good job for all.  Although intricately related, jobs and education are stand-alone events. A new job is not created every time someone graduates from college.

Likewise supply and demand kick in. If everyone has a degree, recruiters will find a new sorting factor. As we increase the percentage of credentialed citizens, how can we strengthen the programs likely to lead to a paying job (or make it clear if a degree is likely to be a first step toward more education)? And, how can we strengthen students to be successful employees once hired?

Student debt. Education is not free. Someone pays – or borrows to pay – the bill. The student, parent, grandparent, taxpayers, institutions, scholarship sponsors; someone. As national student debt loads approach a trillion dollars and student default rates rise, I have grave concerns about the long term consequences for all of us. For example, after offering decades of social service programs to build confidence, hope and access for students from all walks of life, what will happen when children watch parents work hard to embrace those dreams, only to be saddled with egregious debt? How can we guide individuals toward higher ed options that provide the education they seek for a price they can afford?

Would I like to see every child and adult have the opportunity to earn a post-secondary credential? Of course.  But not just a diploma; a quality education in line with the student’s talents and goals; an education that leads toward a productive and personally satisfying life. We have the enthusiasm. We have the programs. As we work toward achieving the numbers, let’s also ensure success for each graduate through guidance, education quality, workforce connections and reasonable debt loads.

This post was written byLaura Gilbert and originally published on Back To School for Grownups.