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.
