The United States has made strides in making higher education accessible to more people, but a new challenge has arisen: getting these college attendees to graduate. Graduation rates, especially at universities with high enrollment from disadvantaged communities, have stagnated since the 1970s, due largely to poor preparation and lack of counseling, according to a panel of education experts.

Four higher education advocates met at a policy breakfast Thursday co-sponsored by National Journal, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Education Trust. Atlantic Media Political Director Ronald Brownstein moderated. The panelists discussed the barriers to increasing the number of U.S. college graduates.

"It's very clear that there is an enormous wage premium," said Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noting that higher education has become increasingly important as the economy has become more high-tech. "You double your chance of achieving the American dream, or better, if you get a college degree," she said.

While the panelists acknowledged that there were many factors contributing to poor college completion rates, the consensus was that the biggest problems were under-preparedness and lack of advising and support. "A big issue in a lot of disadvantaged communities is that parents and students see getting into college as success," said Mike McPherson, president of the Spencer Foundation. Also, many students get weak advising about their options and end up at schools that are below their potential, which leads to lower graduation rates, he said.

Chester Finn, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, pointed to a study that showed three-fourths of students who take the ACT are unprepared for college. There is a disconnect, he said, between what high schools and colleges consider sufficient preparation. "In this country, you're deemed by the K-12 system to be ready for college if you graduate from high school," he said.

All the panelists pointed out that it was important to reach kids early, as remedial education has little effect in increasing students' preparedness. "If you get into fifth grade lacking reading or math skills, your odds of catching up are very thin," Finn said. "One you're in a world where the word 'remediation' applies to you, which is in middle school, you're in big trouble."

Much of the problem results from a lack of guidance, both at home and in school, panelists said; students get little or no advice in course selection that will prepare them for higher education, in financial options to pay for school, and in the details of the application process. "Navigating this stream if you don't have parents to steer you is incredibly difficult," Finn said.

The problem continues beyond high school, the panelists agreed. Advising is scarce at community colleges, where many students from disadvantaged communities matriculate, making it hard to transition to a four-year school. McPherson noted that better schools with higher success rates invest more in advising than community colleges.

Even students at four-year colleges often don't have the support they need to succeed. "Colleges... stopped butting into the kids' lives," Finn said. "They wait for you to come to them." Unfortunately, by that time some students have already slipped through the cracks, he said. Stan Jones, president of Complete College America, advocated creating institutional structures to help kids who don't have parental support.

Still, all the panelists emphasized that it was important to not absolve the colleges themselves for their poor graduation rates. "These colleges accept these students who are underprepared," Jones said. He stressed that universities need to adjust their value systems and place a priority on graduating their students. He exhorted administrators to focus on improving graduation rates more than financial issues.

The panelists acknowledged that resources for higher education aren't likely to increase in coming years, which will make providing college prep and advising more difficult. "We don't need everyone to be a philosopher or fine arts major or physicist," Sawhill said. But they acknowledged the need to open some sort of avenue for low-income students to get post-secondary education, such as technical, vocational and certificate programs as a first step. "Right now, being in a technical program is better than being unemployed," Jones said.