For 50 years, my life’s work has revolved around helping young people make the often-difficult leap from high school to higher education. Today, I’m more concerned than ever about the challenges students face, especially those who are the first in their families to pursue a college degree.

As an admissions officer at Harvard and Middlebury, my passion was to expand access to underrepresented groups, particularly first-generation college students. Thirty-four years ago, I took that mission a step further by founding CFES Brilliant Pathways, a college-readiness organization in Essex that has since helped 110,000 underserved students in the North Country and beyond attain college degrees.

Back when we started, the value of a college education was widely accepted. Sadly, that is no longer the case: A growing anti-college sentiment has swept the nation, with over 60% of families now questioning whether a college education is worth the cost.

The 2023 Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action placed another roadblock in the path to higher education for Black and brown students. Compounding this challenge is the revision of FAFSA, the federal financial aid application, which was intended to simplify the process but instead has made accessing financial aid even more difficult.

Despite these headwinds, higher education remains the most reliable pathway to long-term financial stability and professional growth. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce recently reported that in the next six years, over 10 million “good jobs” — those offering annual salaries between $43,000 and $74,000 — will require a bachelor’s degree.

But for students from underserved backgrounds, the road to college is growing increasingly treacherous, as evidenced by fall enrollment figures, where the number of Black students has plummeted at many institutions, including Harvard and Middlebury.

This trend is not limited to students of color. Overall college enrollment has steadily declined over the past decade, and in 2025 we will hit what has been ominously dubbed the “college enrollment cliff,” due to a significant drop in the college-age population.

These mounting challenges have forced both colleges and organizations such as CFES to rethink how we reach and support students.

Colleges are now recruiting in more racially diverse areas and strengthening partnerships with community colleges, where student bodies tend to be more diverse. And several dozen colleges now offer a completely free education for families making $100,000 or less annually.

At CFES, we’re addressing the growing gender gap as well. Male students are falling behind in high school graduation, college enrollment and degree completion rates. This gap is even more alarming among Black and Latino males, who are three times less likely to graduate from college than their white, middle-class counterparts.

To reverse this trend, CFES launched the Young Men of Talent (YMT) initiative, an evidence-based program at the University of Vermont to support and retain Black and Latino males. YMT’s goal is to ensure that 100 Black and Latino men earn their degrees within four years by offering paid internships, personalized advising, mentorship and other career-focused support.

We see YMT as a blueprint for programs across the country and plan to expand the initiative to other universities and even high schools. Such innovative, adaptable programming is critical to reengaging students with the college experience.

Now more than ever, we need educators, families, businesses and communities to reaffirm the importance of college as a powerful force for social mobility and equity. Together, we must clear pathways to higher education and ensure a bridge to bright futures for all students.

(Rick Dalton is the president of CFES Brilliant Pathways in Essex.)