The Other 85 Percent

A Call for Federal Policies in Support of Adult Access to Higher Education

November 18, 2008 | Filed under: Capella, Capella University, The Other 85 Percent, academics, college, college degree, continuing education, distance learning, online education, online learning, online university

Recently, the Center for American Progress issued a call for increased Federal government support for adult learners. The report asserts that there are both individual and societal benefits when adults earn postsecondary degrees.  The authors cite increased postsecondary education attainment as resulting in such societal benefits as a more competitive workforce, a more highly paid workforce that generates more tax revenues, reduced reliance on other types of government support, lower crime rates, increased charitable giving, improved health rates and greater appreciation of diversity.  This is important because for too long adult higher education has been assumed to result in individual benefits that lessen or eliminate the need for governmental support.  It is a pleasure to see a report like this offer a more balanced perspective. 

It is interesting to note that the report authors claim that the fact that adults do not receive the same postsecondary benefits as younger students has resulted in the U.S. ranking 10th of all industrialized nations in overall education attainment for adults 25 to 34 years of age.  They go on to state that, if adult degree attainment patterns do not change, “the United States will fall 16 million degrees short of the number needed to match leading nations in the percentage of adults with college degrees and to meet workforce needs of 2025.”  That is nearly a million degrees short per year until 2025.

They also state that the number of young people entering the labor market no longer exceeds the number of adults leaving the labor market.  They conclude that states will need to focus on adults 25 and older to sustain their workforces.

The authors call for equitability in access to benefits, including financial aid (such as Pell Grants) and academic and social programs.  They call for expanding federal access policies to better serve working adults, transparency in the amount and sources of financial aid available to adults who enroll in postsecondary programs, policies to allow adults to successfully transition between postsecondary education and the labor market, and more.

This is great to see and very much needed.  Thank you to the Center for American Progress.

Mike

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