An open letter to the President of the United States, members of Congress, the U.S. Secretary of Education, all 50 state governors, state legislators, state education secretaries and commissioners, et al.

Dear Elected Officials and Policymakers:

Thank you for your public service. The work you do is both important and complicated. I recognize that the vast majority of you want to do what’s right for the greatest number of people, but “what’s right” isn’t always clear, and there are a lot of demands on your time and attention.

So, I have only straightforward request: The next time you have to make a decision — any decision — about “higher education,” please stop for just a moment and ask yourself this question: “How are community college students different?”

If you do, you will make better decisions, benefit more lives, make better use of resources and improve your state or our nation’s economy more than you may have ever thought possible.

You’ll also go a long way toward creating a more fair and equitable America while you’re at it.

Different institutions, different students

Decisions about higher education funding and public policies are being made all the time, and they are always important. But the COVID-19 pandemic has created a new sense of urgency around better understanding the differences among colleges and their students, before some critical decisions that are about to be made in the weeks and months ahead.

Please know that all “higher education” is not the same.

There are enormous differences between highly selective, very expensive, private universities (for example, MIT, Stanford or Yale); pretty selective and expensive, public “flagship” universities (like UMass UCLA, or the University of Michigan); somewhat selective and more affordable public state colleges and universities (Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts or Fitchburg State University); and “open door,” inexpensive community colleges — like Northern Essex Community College up here in northeast Massachusetts, or any of the more than 1,100 community colleges across America.

Still, when most people think about traditional “college students” they tend to picture someone who just graduated from high school, maybe 18-19 years old, financially dependent on their parents, living in a dormitory, taking classes full-time and enjoying campus athletics, clubs and social life.

Those students still exist, but they’re less than 30 percent of America’s undergraduates. They are also largely concentrated on the country’s selective, expensive private college and public university flagship campuses, which have daunting application processes, low acceptance rates and admit only students near the top of their class (which usually means students who come from wealthier families with college-going experience).

Most of today’s “traditional” college students — especially at community colleges — are “non-traditional.” They are older, poorer, represent much greater diversity and are likelier to be raising families themselves.

Out of all those different sectors of higher education, community colleges serve larger proportions of:

First-generation students

Low-income students

Minority students

English language learners

Students with learning disabilities

And many other “at-risk” students

On the short end of funding

These students are also the lynchpin for the nation’s local economies. After graduation, 85 percent of community college degree earners stay close to their alma maters, contributing to the workforce, buying homes, raising families and becoming the next generation of community leaders.

But for all the value community colleges and their students provide, all too often they are overlooked or, even worse, disadvantaged by decisions about funding or public policy.

For example: