Higher Education Data Released

Although the House Education and Labor Committee has focused solely on the discussion draft for reauthorizing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) since Congress returned to session this month, Higher Education is still the only area of Education that has already seen movement in Congress, and continues to garner much of the attention on a national scale. Last month, a report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), along with various university studies and U.S. census data all focused on the number of institutions of higher education, the number of advanced degrees awarded, and the social and economic make up of those students in the U.S.

While the number of both male and female students enrolled in higher education programs rose between 2000 and 2006, a census survey found that women outpaced men in both undergraduate and graduate programs. In that period, the nation's undergraduate enrollment swelled by nearly 2.7 million students, 18.7%, but the percentage of males fell 1.2 percentage points, to 44%. Women in 2006 made up 56% of undergrads, up from 54.8% in 2000.

The NCES report, released Tuesday, shows that the number of American postsecondary institutions grew by 1.5% from fall 2005 to fall 2006, and that the number of degrees they awarded grew by 3% from academic year 2004-5 to academic year 2005-6. Almost all of the growth in the number of institutions came in the for-profit sector, although the institutions continue to educate a relatively small proportion of the overall total college population. The proportion of degrees going to women and to members of minority groups continued to edge up. Women received 57.8% of all degrees awarded by four-year institutions in 2005-6 (up from 57.4% percent in 2004-5) and 62.7% of the degrees awarded by two-year colleges, up from 62.6%. White students received 65% of the degrees awarded by four-year colleges, while 9.1% went to black students, 6.4% to Hispanic students, 6.1% percent to Asian/Pacific Islanders and 0.7% to American Indian/Alaskan Natives. The proportion awarded to people whose race or ethnicity was unknown rose to 6.9% from 6.6%, while the proportion going to nonresident aliens shrank to 5.8% from 6%.

Of those degrees, the number of Masters and other advanced degrees is also increasing. More students than ever have started masters programs this fall, and universities are seeing those programs as potentially lucrative sources of revenue. The number of students earning these degrees around the country has nearly doubled since 1980. Since 1970, the growth is 150%, more than twice as fast as bachelor and doctorate programs. For students, the degrees are often expensive; at private universities, many students take out $50,000 in loans for every year of school. Scholarships and fellowships are rare, unlike doctoral programs, which are usually fully financed by universities.

Increased enrollment, more degrees, and a higher number of institutions led Congress to begin working on reauthorizing higher education programs this year. Just last week, Congressed passed H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction Act, intended to increase maximum Pell Grant levels, lower interest rates on student loans, and take other various measures to increase aid to students and increase accessibility for low income students. Although the President has not signed the bill yet, he is expected to do so, despite some reservations regarding new entitlement programs authorized under the bill. The Senate has also completed work on its own reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The House currently has not produced its own version, and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) said he will not move on to the HEA until the committee completes work on NCLB. However, higher education is still a top priority in Congress, and further action can be expected for next year.

Resources:
Doug Lederman, “College Capacity Grows,” Inside Higher Ed, September 12, 2007.
Greg Toppo and Anthony DeBarros, “Women Feed the Jump in College Enrollment,” USA Today, September 12, 2007.
Hannah Fairfield, “Master’s Degrees Abound as Universities and Students See a Windfall,” New York Times, September 12, 2007.
Author: SAS