In the discussion following
my post on Monday, many pointed out the fact that the Bush administration's war on education springs forth from their true belief in an educated ruling class for America. This is the aristocracy breeding its own, while minimizing the risk of an unruly, educated populace.
"As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing."
-- Karl Rove
Well, today we received further confirmation of this in the form of a new report issued by the non-partisan
National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The findings?
College is more expensive now, and available to far fewer students, than it has been in a long while. Things are getting worse, rather than better, and the end result will inevitably be a society with two classes: The educated upper-class, and the uneducated lower class.
Welcome to economic slavery, GOP style.
From
today's New York Times:
The study, from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, found that although the United States still leads the world in the proportion of 35- to 64-year-olds with college degrees, it ranks seventh among developed nations for 25- to 34-year-olds. On rates of college completion, the United States is in the lower half of developed nations.
[...]
One particular area of concern, Mr. Callan said, is that younger Americans -- the most diverse generation in the nation's history -- are lagging educationally, compared with the baby boom generation.
What is keeping these younger generations from completing their college educations? What could prompt the National Center on Public Policy and Higher education to say that, "Perhaps for the first time in our history, the next generation will be less educated." One word: Cost.
At the same time, for most American families, college is becoming increasingly unaffordable. While federal Pell grants for low-income students covered 70 percent of the cost of a year at a four-year public university in the 1990's, Mr. Callan said, that has dropped to less than half.
"It's going backwards,'' he said. "Tuition is going up faster than family income, faster than inflation, faster even than health care.''
[...]
The report, "Measuring Up 2006: The National Report Card on Higher Education," paints a picture of an income-stratified society, with a huge educational gap between low- and high-income young adults. In 12 states, the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds from high-income families who are enrolled in college is at least twice as great as those from low-income families; in five states, the high-income students are at least three times as likely to be in college.
For example, let's take a look at the state of Connecticut, which received some of the worst grades on the report. From The Advocate:
[T]he cost of higher education is causing large disparities based on ethnicity and income, and that could hurt Connecticut's economy and work force over time if the trend is not reversed, the report says.
For example, the report states that for students in low and middle income brackets, the cost of attending a community college now represents nearly one-third of a working family's total income. And things are only worse for those wanting to attend more prestigious schools.
For students in the same income brackets attending four-year universities, the net college costs of tuition, room and board represent almost half of their family's yearly income, even when financial aid is figured into the equation, the report says.
In Connecticut, about 58 percent of high-income young adults are enrolled in college; by contrast, the figure among low-income young adults is only about 16 percent, according to the study.
The report notes a similar gap based on ethnicity. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, 45 of every 100 white young adults are enrolled in college, compared to 33 of 100 non-white adults, it says.
Now granted, Connecticut represents one of the worst states mentioned in the report, but the reality of the educational landscape in America is reflective of this overall trend. If your state is not at this level yet, it is certainly heading in the general direction. And as mentioned in my earlier diary, this all begs the obvious question:
Why does the Republican Party care more about cutting the taxes of billionaires than making a college education affordable?
...to which we now have the obvious answer:
Because that is how they want it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday, I registered the domain name www.OneSimpleQuestion.org, and I plan to create a website there that will represent a one-stop resource for students wanting to know where their representative stood this year on the issue of cutting student aid. I also plan on giving my fellow students a few easy ways to make sure their voices are heard on this matter, and they know who to ask their one, simple question:
Why do you think Paris Hilton needs your attention more than me?
I ask that you please use this thread to discuss today's report, (which should be available to the public around 9:30 am EST), and to help me brainstorm some possible resources for the website.
I would appreciate any feedback you can all spare.
Thank you.
UPDATE: Well, this report was supposed to be embargoed until early this morning, and not fully released to the public until after the press conference, but I have stumbled upon it by simple trial and error. By no means a major feat, but still nice to have the actual report in front of me. Feel free to take a look:
http://www.highereducation.org/...
I am still going through the report myself, so feel free to share some of the finer points.
(Originally posted at Deny My Freedom)