Are American Public Colleges and Universities Drop Out Factories?

Modified: 2016-09-25 (3:16 pm)

Politicians and the public argue that everyone should attend college. Are public American colleges and universities drop out factories? Are the setting up students for high debt levels without delivering the financial benefits of a college education? Hiller and Hatalsky (2016) believe that is the case. Let's examine their critiques and see if they apply to SAU.

Facts

• Nearly 7,000,000 students attend public colleges and universities in the USA
• Only one third attend without any taking out loans to pay for their education
• After four years, the average public college student's debt is $20,000
• After attending public colleges and universities many students do not make enough to pay off their debts
• After six years the graduation rate in the USA is less than 50%
  • In Arkansas, the six year graduation rates are much lower
• Cost of education does not correlate positively with graduation rates
  • Graphic showing cost, graduation rate, and salary for Arkansas

Issues

• Should everyone go to college?
  • Only real pathway to adult success today
    • vocational training, factory jobs, manual labor are all more scarce
    • Dunwoody College of Technology
  • Biased against minorities?
  • Vocational education in high school no longer emphasized
  • 2-year colleges and associate degrees
  • High School counselors: general education vs college prep; undermatching
  • Employment Projections by Educational Attainment
• Should college be free?
  • Bernie Sanders campaign
    • Free tuition for public higher education
    • No profit for government on student loans
    • Lower interest rates
    • Allow current students to refinance at lower rates
    • Allow work-study for low-income students
    • Pay by taxing Wall Street
  • Hillary Clinton campaign
    • Family income less than $125k get free tuition in public education
    • Community College education free for all
    • State and Federal funding
    • $25B fund for Historically Black Colleges
    • Students who are parents get support
  • Donald Trump campaign
    • No debt-free or free public higher education
    • No free community college
    • Reform loan system by allowing banks to originate loans
    • "Student Remediation Programs" for higher ed remediation
    • Hard look at Department of Education
  • European colleges really free?
    • Lower enrollment
    • Higher taxes
    • Germany, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway
    • American students attending college in Europe
• What are good careers that do not require a college degree?

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Reference

Hiller, T., & Hatalsky, L. E. (2016). What free won't fix: Too many public colleges are dropout factories.