A new study found that not one state in the United States
has enough adult workers who have earned some sort of postsecondary degree to
meet its workforce demands. Even those states that graduate a high number of
workers with degrees are projected to fall well short of their expected needs
by 2025.
The College Opportunity Risk Assessment,
a state-by-state comparison of risks to higher educational opportunity from the
University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE), also noted
that even states making the most per-student investments are struggling to produce
enough graduates.
“The world has changed, but our public policies haven’t,”
said Joni Finney, professor of practice at Penn GSE and director of the Institute
for Research on Higher Education. “We’re still touting the successes of a
system designed in the wake of World War II to allow 30% to 40% of the country,
drawn mostly from white, affluent backgrounds, to earn a college degree, even
though that system now leaves us woefully unprepared for the challenges of the
21st century.”
According
to Finney, states should be prioritizing those students who are traditionally
left out of higher education, such as low-income, first-generation, minority,
and working-adult students. At the same time, policymakers have to understand
that cutting education budgets is turning many students into dropouts with debt
and no degree.
