Where did America’s promise of equal opportunity go?
by Javier Silva, Demos
Getting a college degree is no longer optional for young people trying to achieve a modicum of economic security—it’s essential. So it was alarming to read recent news reports from the Associated Press, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, all noting a decline in African-American freshmen enrolling in state universities for the 2004-2005 school year. Not a week later, our nation’s disinvestment from educational opportunity was in the news again: Congress passed a spending bill reducing or eliminating the Pell Grants of 1.3 million students nationwide. These recent headlines are part of a decades-long story that threatens to play out tragically for millions of our generation who are being priced-out of an education.
The colleges with the sharpest drop-off in African-American enrollment this year have been flagship state schools in the South and Midwest. According to the Chicago Tribune, the University of Michigan enrolled 60 fewer African-American freshmen this year, the University of Georgia experienced a drop of 71, and Ohio State’s freshman class has 157 fewer African-Americans.
The decline in enrollment among African-Americans at public universities typifies the rising inequality occurring in our nation’s higher education system. Enrollments of African-Americans at, on one end, highly selective universities, and on the other, community colleges, are both up. It’s the all-important middle rung of the opportunity ladder that is collapsing.
The various newspaper articles present a number of possible explanations, including changes in affirmative action policies at top-tier state systems in California and Michigan. But declining minority enrollment is not an isolated occurrence. It’s actually further evidence of a continued downward spiral in access to college. At a time when getting a college degree is more important than ever before, it’s worth asking the question, “Why is this happening?”
What you may not realize is that the student loan bill awaiting you upon graduation has only been the norm for this generation. There’s been a fundamental shift in how American students pay for college. In the 1970s and 1980s, most federal aid was awarded in grants, while loans remained relatively low. Over the last two decades, however, federal aid has shifted away from grants to loans. This policy may save the federal government money (and make more money for lending companies) but it prices out students who balk at the prospect of taking out their parents’ total annual salaries in student loan debt. The policy also leaves the average college graduate to start out life with over $18,000 in student loan debt—and one-third of the millions of students who drop out before graduating are left with between $10,000 and $20,000 in debt and nothing to show for it.
Little wonder that racial gaps in enrollment have actually widened, and matriculation gaps between rich and poor students remain as wide as 30 years ago. In 2000, the college enrollment gap between white and black students was 11 percentage points, up from only 5 percentage points in 1972. All of this has happened at a time when having a college degree has become essential to compete in the New Economy.
Unless dramatic new investments are made, America’s promise of equal opportunity and social mobility remains in great peril. After making substantial progress in the 1960s and 1970s through the expansion of low-cost public universities and community colleges, Congress has dropped the ball. As tuition has doubled in the last two decades, the average Pell Grant award, the nation’s premier program for helping low-income students pay for college, has shrunk to cover just 39 percent of the cost of a four-year college education. It covered 84 percent in the 1970s. Federal student loans also don’t stretch far enough to cover college costs anymore.
State governments share some of the blame, too. Faced with historic budget shortfalls, states have slashed their appropriations for higher education, leaving public universities no choice but to recoup the lost funds by raising tuition prices. In the last year alone, 16 states had tuition hikes of 10 percent or higher at four-year colleges.
The combined effect of anemic federal aid and the state budget crisis is chilling. According to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, last year more than 400,000 college-qualified high school graduates from low- and moderate-income families (those with incomes below $50,000) did not enroll in a four-year college, and 168,000 did not enroll in any college at all. That’s over half a million qualified students who didn’t enroll in college because of unmet financial need.
If Congress and the states continue the slash-and-burn approach to higher education funding, this generation of young adults will be defined by the dreams that were diverted, rather than achieved.
Discover Solutions:
“Leveling the Playing Field: A Contract for College” Demos
“Building Assets Through Post-Secondary Education” New America Foundation
Learn More:
“Generation Broke: The Growth of Debt Among Young Americans” Demos
National Center for Education Statistics
“College on Credit: How Borrowers Perceive their Education Debt – Results of the 2002 National Student Loan Survey” Nellie Mae
“Empty Promises: The Myth of College Access in America” Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance
“Access Denied: Restoring the Nation’s Commitment to Equal Educational Opportunity”