Why Higher Ed Still Isn't Built for People Like Us

I actually dug into this piece from the Hechinger Report and it hit different. The author graduated in December 2025 after being a nontraditional student, and they're pointing out something we don't talk about enough: only 6 in 10 students finish their degree within six years, which means the system is actively failing people who don't fit the traditional college mold. For those of us going back to school while working, raising kids, or dealing with other life stuff, this matters because it means the barriers we face aren't personal failures, they're structural problems that colleges have known about forever. The piece argues higher ed can actually be redesigned to support us, and I think that's worth reading because it moves past "you should just try harder" and asks the real question: why isn't college set up for the majority of people who need it? If you've felt like you were the problem for struggling to fit into a system designed decades ago, this one's for you.