How Do We Produce 1 Million More Degrees Per Year from now until 2025?
There has been considerable discussion and concern about how well the United States is ranked internationally on the proportion of our population that has a college degree. College degree attainment is seen as critical for our ability to compete globally and maintain a healthy economy. The National Center for Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) has estimated that the U.S. will need to produce an extra 1 million college degrees per year for each of the next 16 years to stay in line with other leading nations. And, the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) has analyzed what it will take to produce those additional degrees.
This is a very interesting analysis that concludes that 70 percent of the additional degrees will have to be earned by adults already in the workforce. After allowing for the additional degrees that will come from population growth and the immigration of educated populations, there is a remaining gap of 14.5 million degrees necessary over the next 16 years. Only 4.3 million of those degrees could come from the “traditional-aged students” and only if there is an annual increase in degree attainment by that group of 2.5 percent every four years. So, even after allowing for expansion of degree attainment by traditional-aged students, there is still a gap of at least 10.2 million additional degrees that would have to be earned by adult students.
This is not surprise to me. But it certainly emphasizes the need to focus on the other 85 percent of college students: adults, financially independent, and part-time students. Let me restate the focus of this blog: we need to shift from a nearly exclusive higher education public policy focus based on traditional views of college and the college student to a broader focus that includes the other 85 percent of college students. Failure to do so will have multiple negative affects on our country and our system of higher education.
Your thoughts? Please leave a comment with your feedback and ideas.
Mike
Share This6 Responses to “How Do We Produce 1 Million More Degrees Per Year from now until 2025?”
Steve Vodhanel Says:
85% of 1,000,000 = 850,000. If these other 850,000 are anything like myself what you are proposing is a possibility of great financial debt, even financial disaster, and how is this going to help our country? While an additional 850,000 students is great for YOUR business, just keep in mind one thing: the day I get my PhD is the day I go broke! How’s this good for MY business? Other than suggesting heavy financial debt for individuals, many middle-aged people in the lower income status such as myself, how do you plan on paying for all this? On my income and my current situtation I have absolutely no idea how I am going to repay my student debts. And no…AACP is not from Mars. They are from Pluto if they think there is any impending critical shortage of community college leadership personnel.
Steve….
Steve Vodhanel Says:
*Make that AACC: American Association of Community Colleges.
Mike Offerman Says:
Diane, thanks for your comment. I certainly appreciate and respect your perspective on this matter and agree that we need to address the quality of education and learning. I wonder if what we might agree on is that we may need both: better educated graduates (at all levels) and more graduates overall.
Mike
Mike Offerman Says:
Steve, thank you for your comment. While I understand your concerns, I think that the focus of the organizations that came up with these numbers is on the bachelor’s degree rather than a graduate degree. Regardless, the point of this blog is that, as public policy decisions are made, including possible decisions to expand the numbers of people earning higher education degrees, there needs to be greater attention given to adults, financially independent younger students, and part-time students. Your point is right on the mark when you ask where the money will come from to achieve a possible goal of 16 million new degrees. And you are concerned that the burden of cost will fall on individual students. My concern is that unless there is a clear understanding of the fact that many of the new degrees would have to be earned by the other 85 percent of students, then any public policy decisions, including increased financial support for students, will be based on the perception that the policies should be developed only for the traditional-aged, full-time, on-campus student. Ideally, if there is a policy to promote an increase in college attainment rates, that policy will recognize the reality of who attends college, the costs and hurdles that these students face, and will address the needs of all students.
Again, thanks for your comment.
Mike
matthew stafford Says:
Hi Mike,
I understand the problem we are facing as a nation, but am not buying creating more degrees as the solution.
One has to ask how creating a million more degrees will help us compete globally when the entire U.S. Education System is at risk, and currently producing high school graduates who read at the fourth grade level? I wonder how many of us know recent college graduates who cannot write a coherent sentence? Remember the old computer phrase, “garbage in-garbage out?” Perhaps the question isn’t how many degrees we need to create competitive value. Maybe it’s how much more competitive our degrees need to be to create value?
Perhaps we could concentrate our efforts on upgrading the quality of the degree programs and the secondary education qualifications of those entering them. We may not need so many college degrees. Perhaps we could make do with fewer people receiving degrees and instead produce better educated graduates?
Leave a Reply
Let us know what you think. All comments will be reviewed prior to going live. Comments that are profane or obscene, or unrelated to the topic of the post will not be published.
Welcome to The Other 85 Percent. So what does "the other 85 percent" refer to? Research has shown that only about 15 percent of higher education students still fit the traditional definition of young adults age 18 to 22 who live on campus and go to school full time. more
- July 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
-
Capella University
Changing Higher Education
eLearning Roadtrip
The Presidents’ Forum
Transparency By Design
Diane Bardsley Says:
Hi Mike,
I understand the problem we are facing as a nation, but am not buying creating more degrees as the solution.
One has to ask how creating a million more degrees will help us compete globally when the entire U.S. Education System is at risk, and currently producing high school graduates who read at the fourth grade level? I wonder how many of us know recent college graduates who cannot write a coherent sentence? Remember the old computer phrase, “garbage in-garbage out?” Perhaps the question isn’t how many degrees we need to create competitive value. Maybe it’s how much more competitive our degrees need to be to create value?
Perhaps we could concentrate our efforts on upgrading the quality of the degree programs and the secondary education qualifications of those entering them. We may not need so many college degrees. Perhaps we could make do with fewer people receiving degrees and instead produce better educated graduates?
April 7th, 2009 at 1:00 pm