If there were a time in American history when the average high school graduate could expect to eke out a comfortable, middle-class existence, it has gone the way of Pontiac. Today, college attendance is the social elevator that the high school diploma once represented. With more students seeking baccalaureate degrees than ever before the nation has some difficult questions to answer. This week's entry examines the effects of the Great Recession on enrollment patterns and argues for clearer thinking on funding priorities for public higher education.
For folks working in higher education, the effects of the Great Recession were not as dire as some for forecasters suggested. Enrollments did not plummet off a cliff and schools were not shuttered like so many Circuit City stores. Indeed, InsideHigherEd reported findings from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center showing that the recession flattened students' enrollment at public four-year institutions while enrollments at community colleges and private, non-profit, four-year institutions grew. Graphically, the distribution of student enrollments looks like a valley amidst two hills where community colleges and private schools are the hills and public schools are the valley. This pattern, however, should concern college-bound students and families as it clearly shows that students' choices are more constrained than ever.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) student enrollments in degree-granting institutions have steadily increased every year from 1970 to today. From 1999 to 2009 degree-seeking students have increased from 14.8 million to 20.4 million. Meanwhile, the average cost of attending a public, four-year college or university has risen from $950 in 1964 to $12,804 in 2010 (NCES). The two-fold challenge facing today's college-bound students is 1) increasing access issues (more students seeking college, but not enough seats) and; 2) costs of attending public institutions are approaching those found at private schools. The recession resulted in a sharp drop of tax revenues and budget shortfalls that state legislatures have wrestled to contain. In California, these shortfalls have resulted in a series of tuition and fee increases that appears to be squeezing students on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder out of the system.
Indeed, the Los Angeles Times reported that the UC Regents' approval of another tuition hike came shortly after a pay raise was granted to Mark Laret, CEO of UCSF's medical center bringing his pay up to $1.2 million for 2011. Money that could have been expended on student services, scholarships, or instruction was instead directed towards the retention of an executive functioning in a non-instructional capacity. These are challenging times and the governing boards of public universities have responded with belt-tightening measures that are affecting student learning, access, and success. With the total cost of UC education approaching $31, 000 per year it is easy to see why public higher education enrollments for middle-income families have begun to sag. These families can either no longer afford the tax-supported state university or choose to get more for their dollar by selecting a private school.
The choice that I think lays before the United States is to determine whether the country is comfortable with an increasingly privatized system of higher education. The demand for postsecondary education is growing and will continue to grow well into the next decade. NCES reports that as of 2009 the largest providers of postsecondary education in the United States were the University of Phoenix, with 380,232 students, and Kaplan University with 71, 011. Arizona State University, the nation's largest public university, came in third with 68, 084 students. From the look these figures it looks like the nation is growing more comfortable with a privatized postsecondary system, but what does this mean for publicly supported higher education? Are we comfortable with transforming a public good into a private commodity? Students will increasingly have to choose between community colleges or private schools to accomplish their educational goal unless we re-invest our tax dollars in worthwhile national priority.
Learners first, students always!
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