Millions of students are working, parenting, and unaware of public services available to them — but the agencies meant to support them exist in different entities, all measuring success through a separate lens. In 2023-24, three in five college students reported food or housing insecurity, and nearly 80 percent of students who considered leaving college cited basic-needs or financial concerns as the reason why.
Stranded Systems: How America’s Education, Human Services and Workforce Systems Drifted Apart—and How to Put Them Back Together, created by Complete College America, breaks down the barriers created by decades of policy, funding, and data silos, and proposes a framework for building the regional coordination and state-level accountability that can turn disconnected agencies into a unified pathway from learning to economic mobility.
The framework introduces five conditions for connected systems:
- There must be cabinet-level alignment across K-12, higher education, workforce, and economic development on a single set of learner outcomes that are endorsed by the governor
- Shared definitions of credentials of value, employment in field, advancement, and equity gaps
- States must define clear roles among education, workforce training, public benefits, and employer engagement
- State leaders need consistent routines for working together
- States must create a dedicated entity, rather than a working group or a committee, with the staff, budget, and authority to coordinate this work