The value of higher education is complex. There are the economic payoffs for individuals as indicated by higher wages and opportunities in the job market and for society in creating a stronger tax base and greater prosperity for a state or region. But there are also social benefits like the opportunity to foster civic engagement, personal development, and better cooperation among diverse groups. The problem is, neither the social nor economic benefits of higher education are equitably distributed to people of different racial groups. Degree attainment for Black adults bucks the trend of progression over time and has gotten worse. Specifically, there has been very little intergenerational improvement in degree attainment among Black adults: Only 30 percent of younger Black adults (ages 25-34) have earned a degree compared with 35 percent of older Black adults (ages 35-44). Even with the advantage that attending college can provide, Black students who make it to college face additional barriers, including limited opportunities to interact with faculty, curricula that are not reflective of their cultural background and experience, greater struggles identifying resources to pay for living expenses, books, and fees while in college, and not being able to talk to a counselor of color after experiencing racial discrimination and isolation, and more. These issues translate into differences in outcomes and success for students of color and White students. This paper first examines how removing barriers to using race conscious policies in higher education, specifically affirmative action, will help achieve true racial justice in higher education. It then explores several different strategies that will help move the needle closer to racial justice, including not relying on proxies for race, acknowledging the inequities baked into current admissions criteria, accepting that racial inequities are a systemic problem, and measuring both the economic and non-economic outcomes of postsecondary education. Addressing these issues are key to making sure higher education pays off for everyone, but especially for students of color.