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Higher and Higher Education View the document 2 (pdf) In today's knowledge-based economy, a college degree is a necessary qualification for entry to the middle class. Over the last 30 years, as real wages for workers with only a high school diploma have fallen, the life outcomes for those with college degrees have diverged from those with only high school degrees. In 1977, for example, there was only a 6 percentage-point difference in home ownership rates between those with college educations and those without. Today, there is a 20 percentage-point difference. In response to this economic reality, more young people than ever before are enrolling in college. Nearly three-quarters of high school graduates enroll in some type of college after high school. Despite this record enrollment, many college-qualified high school graduates are not planning to attend college at all, attend community college, or enroll but do not complete college simply because they cannot afford it. Less than a third of young adults aged 25 to 29 had a bachelor's degree or higher in 2003--a percentage that hasn't kept pace with enrollment. |
