Executive Summary
The Obama administration is calling for the United States to regain its status as the nation with the highest concentration of college-educated adults in the world . In response to this challenge, the president, governors, foundations, individual campuses, and many others are pursuing a “college completion agenda” that aims to get more students across the finish line . However, far too many are stumbling soon after they sprint off the mark .
In this report, we focus on the high costs associated with the large number of students who do not return for a second year at the college where they first enroll . Using data from the U .S . Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we show that during the five years between 2003 and 2008 (the latest years for which we have data):
Executive Summary
• States gave over $1 .4 billion and the Federal government over $1 .5 billion in grants to students who did not return for a second year .
“In recent years, we have failed to live up to our opportunity legacy, especially in higher education. In just a decade, we’ve fallen from first to ninth in the proportion of young people with college degrees. That not only represents a huge waste of potential; in the global marketplace it represents a threat to our position as the world’s leading economy.” (President Barack Obama)
The nation will have a difficult time reaching the administration’s policy goals unless we find ways to increase the number of students who return to complete their college degrees . In the meantime, we continue to spend far too much money on students who don’t even finish the first lap, let alone fail to cross the finish line .
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States appropriated almost $6 .2 billion to colleges and universities to help pay for the education of students who did not return for a second year
Education Week
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