By Gregory W. Fowler, PhD, President, University of Maryland Global Campus

For decades, public policy has been guided by an image of higher education that no longer reflects reality. Too often, decision-making assumes an 18-year-old student who moves into a dormitory, relies on parents or loans, and pursues a four-year degree while studying full time.

Data, of course, tells a different story. Today, only one-in-four current undergraduates fit this model, and more than 60 percent learn online at least part of the time.

It is time we acknowledge that residential learners are no longer the norm; in fact, they are a niche. If we want better outcomes, we must modernize policy to meet learners where they are: in the workforce, in the military, and at the cornerstone of our economy.

By increasing access, removing “credit friction,” and imparting future-proof skills, we can move from good intentions to good outcomes.

Affordability and Access as a Pathway

True access involves more than lower tuition and flexible scheduling. For adult learners especially—who balance coursework with work, families, and community responsibilities—access means bringing innovative strategies to bear to shorten the distance from initial engagement to meaningful progress.

At University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), our 3D Scholarship Program offers an example. In partnership with Prince George’s Community College and Prince George’s County Public Schools, the program allows qualifying students to earn community college credit while still in high school, transfer credit seamlessly to UMGC, and complete a bachelor’s degree for $10,000 or less. Students can graduate with little or no debt, ahead of their peers, and enter the workforce ready to contribute.

This is more than an affordability strategy; it is a proven approach to improving outcomes. Data from our scholarship programs shows that students who enter college through structured, predictable pathways persist and complete at significantly higher rates.

Our Maryland Completion Scholarship supports this. By allowing graduates of Maryland community colleges to complete a UMGC degree for $12,000 or less, it removes what many call the “transfer tax” (lost credits, higher tuition, and the confusion that can accompany the move to a four-year institution). By eliminating these obstacles, graduation rates rise and debt declines.

Policy can mirror this logic. Expanding Workforce Pell, for example, would help learners fund short-term, workforce-aligned programs that provide immediate value and can later stack into degrees. It would reward movement and momentum, not just enrollment.

Removing “Credit Friction”

If a military service member has mastered leadership, logistics, or cybersecurity through required training, it is a policy failure to insist that they study the same content again in a traditional classroom. This unnecessary redundancy is what I call “credit friction.”

Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) addresses this issue directly. It recognizes what adult learners already know and can do, saving them time and money while affirming their professional identities. At UMGC, our Military Rank for Credit program has helped some 15,600 servicemembers avoid redundant coursework, saving an estimated $19.1 million in a little more than a year, while translating their experience into college credit that carries weight both inside the military and across the civilian workforce.

Modernized policy should adopt this mindset: competency and skills are the foundation of credit, not its alternative. Reducing credit friction accelerates completion, improves affordability, and strengthens learners’ ability to articulate their capabilities in the job market. 

Future-Proofing Skills

Finally, student-first policy must also look ahead. The pace of change in the workplace is relentless, and AI is already a foundational capability, on par with literacy and numeracy. Our responsibility is not to prepare learners for the jobs of today but to help them develop the agility to thrive in roles that do not yet exist.

Integrating AI literacy across the curriculum and modeling its responsible use will help ensure that graduates remain relevant and competitive. For policymakers, this means supporting data reform and flexible accreditation standards that allow institutions to update programs at the speed of industry rather than the speed of bureaucracy.

A System for Today’s Learners

Most of today’s students are adults who carry the weight of work, family, service, and community. They view education as an opportunity to advance, to build better lives for themselves and those they love. They deserve policy that respects their time, values their expertise, and lowers the financial barriers to progress.

In 2026, we have an opportunity to eliminate outdated policy assumptions that hold students back and instead build a system that truly puts them first while at the same time making education stronger, more accessible, and more aligned with workforce needs. 

Why it matters:

The skills required for most jobs are changing at an accelerating pace. LinkedIn data shows that by 2030, 70% of the skills used in many roles will differ from today. That shift is reshaping hiring, education, and workforce policy.

The big picture:

Rosemary Lahasky and Josh Connolly, co-chairs of Skills First, are leading a coalition of employers, trade associations, and innovative universities focused on advancing a proactive skills agenda in Congress. Their goal is to ensure federal policy keeps pace with workforce realities.

What stands out:

• Professionals are expected to hold twice as many jobs over their careers compared to 15 years ago.

• Roughly half of recruiters now prioritize skills over degrees when searching for talent.

• Automation and AI are accelerating workforce transformation.

The policy gap:

Much federal policy still centers on traditional 18-year-old students entering four-year institutions. Meanwhile, millions of incumbent workers need on and off ramps to reskill and upskill throughout their careers.

What’s next:

The coalition is focused on accelerating skills-based hiring, expanding access to skilling pathways, and improving how skills are assessed and verified at scale.

Bottom line:

Workforce change is not slowing down. Aligning hiring, education, and federal policy around verified skills is becoming a national competitiveness issue.

Amy Glynn has joined the Presidents Forum as a Policy & Innovation Fellow, a role designed to expand the Forum’s policy capacity and strengthen connections between institutional practice and national higher education conversations. She brings nearly 20 years of experience across higher education policy, institutional operations, and technology, with a focus on student financial success and large-scale system design.

Amy currently works at National University, where her experience includes supporting nontraditional student populations and engaging with the operational realities institutions face when implementing policy and regulatory requirements. Her background spans institutional, policy, and technology environments, providing a foundation for translating complex systems into clearer, more navigable processes for institutions and students.

In her fellowship role, Amy will work under the direction of the Executive Director and in collaboration with the Policy Director to support the Forum’s policy research, analysis, and communications infrastructure. Her work will include contributing to research and drafting efforts, tracking federal and regulatory developments, synthesizing information for member audiences, and supporting structured opportunities for institutional input and knowledge-sharing across the Forum’s membership.

Amy will also support the Forum’s efforts to strengthen internal processes for gathering, organizing, and communicating insights from member institutions, with attention to how policies and administrative systems affect institutional operations and student progress. Her work will help reinforce the Forum’s role as a hub for institutional learning, coordination, and shared understanding across innovative colleges and universities.