More than 100 higher education leaders from 22 U.S. states and territories travel to Washington, D.C., for third annual Complete College America Day on the Hill
WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 11, 2025)—Complete College America (CCA), a national advocacy organization dedicated to improving college completion rates, announced that today it held its third annual “CCA Day on the Hill.” The day of advocacy, which has tripled in size since launching in 2023, brings leaders from colleges, state systems of higher education, and other state and local organizations to Washington, D.C., to advocate for policies that scale evidence-based practices proven to help more students complete college.
“When the demands of the labor market and our economy are rapidly evolving, ensuring that more Americans complete college remains a workforce, civic, economic, and educational imperative,” said Dr. Yolanda Watson Spiva, president of Complete College America. “The Complete College America Alliance demonstrates what is possible when leaders come together—across states, systems, and party lines—united by belief in what works and a shared commitment to student success.”
Throughout the day, higher education leaders and advocates from 22 states met with lawmakers to advocate for key college completion priorities at the federal level, including passage of the Postsecondary Student Success Act (H.R. 7811/S. 3995). This legislation would authorize federal grants to scale evidence-based college completion practices.
Representatives from the coalition also raised awareness around Complete College America’s shared federal policy principles and urged Congress to take several key actions to support student success and modernize higher education. These include expanding Pell Grant eligibility and updating the financial aid system, funding wraparound services to address students’ basic needs, passing the College Transparency Act to improve data on student outcomes, investing in AI infrastructure and ethical standards to enable personalized support, and recognizing the value of short-term credentials and industry certifications.
The Complete College America Alliance is a national coalition of 53 states, systems, institutions of higher education, and other organizations committed to increasing the number of students who successfully complete degrees or other credentials of value.
The Alliance covers more than 1,000 institutions serving over 8.1 million students. A 2022 report from Complete College America found that between 2010 and today, almost all states in the Alliance have improved on-time graduation rates (+11 percentage points) for students at both four-year institutions and two-year institutions.
Institutions participating in CCA Day on the Hill included:
- Alabama: Lawson State Community College, Shelton State Community College, Alabama Possible
- California: University of California, Berkeley, Campaign for College Opportunity
- Colorado: Complete College America
- District of Columbia: Lumina Foundation, FirstGen Forward, ECMC Foundation, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Arizona State University-DC Campus Leaders
- Georgia: Complete College America
- Illinois: City Colleges of Chicago, Partnership for College Completion
- Indiana: Complete College America, Indiana University, Indianapolis
- Kansas: Complete College America
- Kentucky: Complete College America
- Louisiana: Complete College America, Northwest Louisiana Technical Community College
- Maryland: Coppin State University, Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics
- Michigan: Michigan State University
- Missouri: Harris-Stowe State University, University of Central Missouri
- New Mexico: New Mexico Higher Education Department, The University of New Mexico-Taos
- North Carolina: Complete College America
- Ohio: The University of Akron, The University of Toledo,
- Pennsylvania: Westmoreland County Community College, Community College of Allegheny County, Harrisburg Area Community College
- Puerto Rico: University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez
- South Carolina: Greenville Technical College, Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, University of South Carolina, Florence-Darlington Technical College,
- Tennessee: Tennessee Higher Education Commission
- Texas: Complete College America
- Vermont: Complete College America
- Virginia: Complete College America
- Washington: Washington Student Achievement Council, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
In addition, these state and institutional leaders were joined by higher education leaders and advocates from Lumina Foundation, Third Way, American Association of Community Colleges, FirstGen Forward, ECMC Foundation, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, WCET, Our Cause, National College Attainment Network, Excelencia in Education, TPSE Math, NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program.
For more information about CCA and to get involved, please visit CompleteCollege.org or contact Andrew Morse at amorse@completecollege.org.
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About Complete College America: Complete College America (CCA) builds movements for scaled change and transforms institutions through data-driven policies, student-centered perspectives, and equity-driven practices. Since its founding in 2009, CCA connects a national network of forward-thinking state and higher education leaders and introduces bold initiatives to help states and institutions confront inequities, close institutional performance gaps, and increase college completion rates, especially for marginalized and historically excluded students. For more information, visit www.completecollege.org.
Media Contact: media@completecollege.org
