In his address to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday, President Barack Obama called for every American to pursue some form of education beyond high school. It’s an ambitious goal – some might say impossible.

Currently, only two of every five American adults have a two- or four-year college degree. Millions of Americans struggle even to complete high school, with one in four dropping out. And even a high school degree is no guarantee a student is ready for college.

Particularly alarming are the college rates for low-income and minority students. One recent study reported that more than 90 percent of low-income teens said they planned to go to college, but only half actually enroll.

Those who do enroll are substantially less likely than others to finish their degree. If they borrowed money for college and do not graduate, they may be worse off than if they had not even started college.

The Associated Press asked six experts – from the worlds of policy, philanthropy, and some who work directly with struggling students – to answer the same two questions:

Is the president’s goal realistic? And what would it take to attain it? Here are their responses:

___

Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, an advocacy group for children, particularly poor and minority children:

Absolutely! Just as those GIs stepped up to the challenges of college, today’s young people will, too. But we have work to do.

First, we must get serious about high schools. Instead of preparing some for college and others for the jailhouse, we need to help high schools prepare every student for college.

Second, we have to dramatically improve results for low-income and minority students, now more than half of our youth. Increasing their success is the only way to ensure our national success.