$168 Billion in Government Aid to College Students: Only 53% Ever Graduate
Sunday October 31st, 2010 • Posted by David Theroux at 3:05am PDT • 5 Comments
A new report from the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy assembles key facts regarding the serious problems in American colleges and universities regarding poor performance and the gigantic scale of government funding. Here are some example findings:
• Only 29% of college graduates achieve a score of “proficient” on national literacy tests. (National Assessment of Adult Literacy)
• Only 53% of students who begin college have graduated after six years. (The College Board)
• In 2008-09, total federal, state, and institutional aid to students totaled $168 billion. (The College Board)
• Between 1993 and 2007, inflation-adjusted spending on administration per student increased by 61%. (Goldwater Institute)
• In 2008, average debt of graduating seniors with student loans was $23,200—up 24 percent from $18,650 in 2004. (The Project on Student Debt)
• The average price of one year of college—including tuition, fees, room, board, supplies, books, and transportation—is nearly $40,000 at private 4-year universities and more than $19,000 for in-state students at public 4-year universities. (The College Board)
• 20% of individuals making less than $20,000 per year have bachelor’s or master’s degrees. (U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, 2009)
• After factoring in forgone wages and the cost of a college education, the average lifetime earnings advantage for college graduates ranges from $150,000 to $500,000—not the million dollar figure that is often cited. (The American Enterprise Institute)
For the full article, please click here.
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Greg says:
• The average price of one year of college—including tuition, fees, room, board, supplies, books, and transportation—is nearly $40,000 at private 4-year universities and more than $19,000 for in-state students at public 4-year universities. (The College Board)
This number for in-state public schools is way out of whack. You can do it for far cheaper.
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JM says:
I don’t know what Greg is talking about, I went to the University of South Florida, one of the cheapest State schools in the US and my dorm fees alone were over $5,000 a Semester, crappy college food $3,000, Text Books $1,200, 12 Credits X $150 per Credit Hour.
I paid about $22,000 a year AND I had to work Full Time just to cover the cost of Gas, Health Insurance, Car Insurance, and food on the weekend. YES, the college only provided food during the Weekdays!
There are TONS of problems with the US University system. For example the Familial Entrance System.
They won’t tell you, but schools such as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale will let you in if you have a Relative who graduated. It ensure’s the ‘stickiness’ of money because people who go to Ivy League schools are given top jobs, their children and then given admission to those Ivy League schools and they are given top jobs as well.
Look at Bush, he got straight Cs and some of his professors wanted to FAIL him but were worried about his Father.
One of the problems with your article is that it does not address the fact that you don’t need to graduate to do great things with the knowledge you learned at the University. Steve Jobs is a college drop-out and he created Apple.
And just because you graduate doesn’t mean you will do either great things or even use your degree.
Another GLARING Problem with our University system is that it does not really focus on giving students skills for the Market place. Instead our Universities have become ‘Degree Mills.’ Students graduate with a degree and no Marketable Skills....
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Carolyn Barnes says:
I taught at a small college for 30 years, so i have strong opinions vis-a-vis the subject.
One of the most troubling things is the old quote–
“After factoring in forgone wages and the cost of a college education, the average lifetime earnings advantage for college graduates ranges from $150,000 to $500,000—not the million dollar figure that is often cited. (The American Enterprise Institute)”.
One reason this was so inaccurate is that it included licensed professionals in its totals. The lifetime earnings of lawyers, doctors, CPAs, veterinarians, optometrists, pharmacists, dentists, and engineers, whose education and training goes FAR beyond A College Education, should be calculated separately and not allowed to confuse the issue. -
Furthermore...the Veterans Administration Education program was one of the most successful in higher education. Far superior to the grant program widely used now. There is nothing as amotivational as being given money for nothing. It produces 53% graduation rates.
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