Data Reveal a Rise in College Degrees Among Americans

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

The number of Americans graduating from college has surged in recent years, sending the share with a college degree to a new high, federal data shows.

The surge follows more than two decades of slow growth in college completion, which caused the United States to fall behind other countries and led politicians from both parties, including President Obama, to raise alarms.

Last year, 33.5 percent of Americans ages 25 to 29 had at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 24.7 percent in 1995, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In 1975, the share was 21.9 percent. The number of two-year college degrees, master’s degrees and doctorates has also risen recently.

The increases appear to be driven both by a sharp rise in college enrollment and by an improvement among colleges in graduating students. The trends could bring good news in future years, economists say, as more Americans become qualified for higher-paying jobs as the economy recovers.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/education/a-sharp-rise-in-americans-with-college-degrees.html?pagewanted=all

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The top readers' pick comment: "Just remember that today's college degree is yesterday's high school diploma. The only difference is that yesterday it was free and today it costs upwards of $100,000."

I would definitely agree, I have heard that many more employers are demanding degrees even for positions that previous didn't require them. Do employers look down at HS diplomas now? A sign of K-12 education getting dumbed down, I suppose.

The next one (also an NYTimes staff pick) "I know a lot of Americans who have "college degrees" (often graduating with 4.0 averages), and I've seen the textbooks and read some of the papers they wrote to get these degrees. In many cases, it's the equivalent of 10th grade work in other advanced countries, and especially in the community colleges that seem to be mostly profit-oriented.

The USA has some of the best universities in the world - 2 or 3 may be THE best - but it has hundreds of what must be the worst in the developed world, and employers recognize the difference."

Third: "I am far less interested in the number of degrees received than the quality of the education given and whether the students are both prepared and intellectually curious enough to gain from this now quite expensive experience." Yes indeed. I think the USA suffers from an anti-intellectual attitude.

[sikofit3]

1. I feel that

the reason for this is because of the job market and the lack of jobs and the only logical choice is for people to go back to school and up their education. I am sure also when they see the jobs that are out there and notice that they are requiring higher degrees that they have to go back to school. I know this personally because that is what I am doing but honestly, it is still hard to get a job. Now, instead of just getting your degree at the closest school, more research is needed, where you have to see where those jobs are located, what is the new hire percentage etc... because even now a good degree even in the sciences is place specific and job specific which makes even that much harder with a degree. Don't even get me started with the student loans... I don't know how we are all going to make it especially since a lot of these people have families and homes and can't just say "honey all the jobs are in Colorado so we have to move there asap before I have to start paying my loans"

[Igel]

2. Standards have slumped.

If you pay for your kid to go to school, you expect the degree. That bachelor's degree is a product.

The faculty are more concerned with tenure and having the boxes checked off. And student evals. They don't want to take the time in most places to correct the horrible student work or the grief that comes with high fail rates.

There used to be remedial courses. They were expensive and a lot of schools ditched them. Now the schools get around the need for them. It's not like the students are any better.

The students are studying less than 10 years ago in most schools. That just makes it harder for the parents to be happy if the professors maintain standards--and it makes it harder for the professors to maintain standards.

So a lot of bachelor's graduates are below where they'd have been 10 or 20 years ago. The economy has to suffer as a result. The real triage comes when you apply for your master's program, and even then all but the most competitive feel the pressure to keep enrolling students and letting remedial courses do the work. And yet I've known more than one student graduated with a master's or PhD on the condition they leave the field and never ask for a letter of recommendation requiring evaluation of their competence in the field.

[Psephos]

3. When everyone has a degree, no one has a degree. n/t