For example, written or verbal expressions of community that are accompanied by practices that fail to make students feel genuinely welcome deliver a message that contradicts the intended message. Improving access and educational attainment for all students requires more than the simple dissolution of legal barriers that previously denied entry into educational institutions based on criteria such as race or gender. In today's colleges and universities, barriers to educational access are often more subtle, although just as limiting as their forerunners. In order to provide all citizens with the benefits of higher education, both formal and informal structures that encourage and support full participation and success must be established and maintained. For diversity initiatives to be meaningful and effective, there must be strong institutional support for educational equity as an articulated value, and its implementation must permeate all aspects of campus life.
Many forces contribute to encouraging or inhibiting the decision to pursue higher education.
For example, for many students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, lack of adequate financial resources presents an insurmountable obstacle to attending and completing college. The decline in public funding has both raised the cost of post-secondary education and shifted the financial burden from the larger society through taxes to the individual student through loans. At the same time that the cost of a college education is escalating, economists predict continuing increases in the number of jobs requiring post-secondary education, with a corresponding decrease in the number and types of jobs available to those who have no education beyond the high school level. Technology is transforming the workplace, requiring greater technical skills for a growing number of jobs. Those who do not possess the necessary skills and expertise to function effectively in a technologically oriented workplace will not be able to compete for these jobs.