In the last two decades the United States has taken major strides toward equalizing educational opportunity. Yet there are still large numbers of people who are either not served or ineffectively served by institutions of higher education. The problem is particularly acute in the central cities, where the poor and disadvantaged are concentrated. For many of them, undereducation contributes to high levels of unemployment and crime, and to the disintegration of family and community.

Urban-oriented colleges and universities are losing ground in their efforts to serve underprepared and low-income students. Many factors combine to cause this situation—confusion about their mission, resulting in poor planning at every level; minimal cooperation with schools and other city institutions; adherence to traditional methods of instruction when unconventional methods are called for; inflation and inequities in funding, the complexities of student financial aid; and finally, the special problems and needs of urban-oriented colleges precisely because they are located in the cities.

Based on our analyses in the preceding sections of this paper, we set out below a summary of our recommendations and the specific problems to which they are addressed.

BASIC SKILLS AND RELATED PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

The single greatest need is for a range of programs that will help the poor and disadvantaged improve their basic learning and language skills and assure their access to and success in college study, and that are geared to the realities of the job market. Current programs and services are too limited even for students already in college. To address this problem, we have four broad recommendations for urban-oriented higher education institutions: