Access to Degrees -- Not Just Honorary Degrees

This is the celebratory season for colleges and universities. President Obama has just collected an honorary degree from Notre Dame, where a small band of protesters received more media attention than the thousands who listened respectfully to his careful, nuanced speech. Michelle Obama graced a freshly installed stage at the spanking new University of California at Merced, giving that Central Valley school recognition for its efforts as well as its potential.

The Obamas' regard for quality higher education is crystal clear. For the families of both the president and the first lady, access to a strong undergraduate and professional education was a sign of and ticket for cultural and economic success. I am a little older than our first couple, but when I started college my parents also viewed it as a key sign of their own economic achievements and a boost to whatever their son's aspirations turned out to be. My father was a furrier in New York, as was his father. The only thing my dad knew for certain about my future was that it shouldn't include being a furrier. Education at a very selective school (I went to Wesleyan University and then Princeton) would help ensure that.

The connection between higher education and social mobility was strengthened in this country after WWII. Expanding access to a college diploma was a national priority. As Andrew Delbanco recently wrote in the New York Review of Books, in the age cohort from 55-64, we lead the world in the percentage of the population with a college degree. But overall, we are now tied for tenth, and this is because younger groups have found it increasingly difficult to afford a four or even a two-year degree. In recent years Federal help has been paying a smaller and smaller percentage of college costs. Delbanco reports that in 1976 Pell Grants paid for 72 percent of costs, while by 2003 they made up only 38 percent. Recent legislation may improve things, but financial barriers have increasingly kept young people from pursuing a degree after high school.

Thus even before this economic crisis, higher education, once an important dimension of the dream of social mobility, was increasingly becoming a powerful instrument for reproducing social and economic privilege.

The Great Recession in which we find ourselves is making matters worse. Some of the highly selective colleges and universities remain "need blind," meaning that they accept students regardless of the applicant's ability to pay tuition and fees. But few institutions can afford to make this promise. At Wesleyan, where I now work, in order to remain need blind we have had to make cuts in many other administrative functions to compensate for the loss of endowment revenue due to the economic downturn. At public universities student fees have skyrocketed as states reduce their support for higher education even as private donations have become more difficult to come by.

Some need blind schools have sought to counteract these trends by actively recruiting students who might not find their own paths to our institutions. Wesleyan recently joined some other selective schools in working with Questbridge, an organization that matches highly qualified low-income students with appropriate universities. These students often receive full scholarships at institutions to which they might not have dared to apply given the high "sticker price" of more than $50k in tuition and fees. But given the economic downturn, not many schools today can afford to pay an organization to find students to whom they can then offer substantial scholarships. Most schools are trying to figure out how they can meet their ongoing financial aid obligations, or how they can fill the seats available with tuition paying students.

The best American universities and liberal arts colleges continue to produce specialized research and an approach to general education that inspire admiration (and imitation) around the world. But our system for financing higher education needs to be bolstered, and our commitment to offering an opportunity for continued education to qualified high school graduates re-affirmed. Growth in the American economy, and vitality in American culture, depend on knowledge and innovation -- not just on products and services. Unless access to higher education is improved, that growth and vitality are at risk.

I am delighted to see President and Mrs. Obama visit universities and celebrate their graduates. I long to see them inspire legislation that improves access to and the sustainability of institutions like those that have honored them this week.

Comments

[MurrayAbraham]

One of the big problems we've got is that costly tuitions do not necessarily mean high income prospects, and we end up with to many lawyers and to few engineers and scientists.
There is also the problem that although our Universities are good we lack intermediary professional schools such as those that can be found in European countries and Japan.

[Deaninphilly]

IMO I think the shools would be deserving of more money if they were actually educating the students they are graduating. People are under some delusion that having a four year or more degree somehow makes them smart and educated, they couldn't be more wrong. Some of the best people I have hired had no formal education or had nothing more than a specialized program certificate. Some of the dumbest people I have ever interviewed came to me with a four year degree in which I would not hire to be the janitor. Yet somehow we are repeatedly told these people are worth more than those without a degree. In all my years I still don't understand where this logic comes from and most likely never will.

[simplejourney]

I am sure that you would recommend to someone you care about that a college education is important. I think that a person ability to persevere through school speaks volumes but you are right; there are other skills and traits that can not be taught or developed through a college education.

[Deaninphilly]

No actually I do not. IMO a specialized certificate/degree is much better than a four year degree. Too much time and money is spent on nonsense and irrevlevant theories.

[corwin]

I agree with the comments gently chiding the president of Wesleyan for asking for more federal funds.My take on this is on several levels.I think everyone knows the cost of higher ed outpaced inflation by about 40% the last decade.I think the relative pinch on funding will force you guys to tighten.SOme of your departments are inane,in terms of actual scholarship. Yet they still are funded. Another problem, aside from the cost /year is the time to get a BS. And, finally, so many students graduate with near or totally useless degrees. Sure , some of them are athletes, but that's not really an excuse.
ANd peace fpr tomorrow. I was familiar with the admissions standards at a professional school for a 'great metropolitan med school'. People of color are getting plenty of breaks. Including taking some who have no chance of graduating- if you call that a break.

[l3randon]

So the president of Wesleyan University is advocating for legislation that would ultimately...give more money to Wesleyan University? Bold. What about the fact that skyrocketing education costs are in large part due to the government's guaranteeing loans to people who couldn't afford them? We need to actually improve the education system, not just throw more money at it.

[zaz33]

BTW

Has anyone demanded to see Obama's constitutional law degree ?

[nolabels]

Well, nobody is asking for it because it doesn't exist. He has a JD like every other lawyer. If you want to know whether he took Con law and did well in it, well, the proof is clear. He became editor-in-chief of the law review at Harvard which you don't do unless you get stellar grades in all of your classes. The University of Chicago (one of the most selective law schools in the country) does not let you teach a type of law in which you are not we versed.

Constitutional law degree? Huffpo should be interviewing people for the right to post.

[Uniqua]

I don't think people understand there is a student loan crisis in this country.

THERE ARE NO STUDENT LOANS or very little to borrow.

This past year, my senior (who by the way scored in the mid 700's for each SAT battery, good grades, and 5's and 4's on AP's, lots of extracurricular activities) was waitlisted at several privates with foundational money, accepted at some privates (nnoe of which had large foundational money to close the gap), and one public.

He can only go public because the amount of FA he will receive doesn't close the gap. Our income is just above the cut off for need-based grants (e.g. PELL). His FAFSA showed that our contribution would be around 5K, and for many of the private universities, our contribution after merit awards etc., turned out to be approximately 28K. Two privates offered him substantial merit scholarships, and though we were very thrilled with their offers, it wasn't enough to make a dint. Coming up with 26K was the same as coming up with 50K or 100K...we couldn't do it without refinancing our house and borrowing privately.

I do not believe for one minute that schools remained NEED BLIND. Not in this economy, and not with millions having been lost out of the foundations.

He understands that his circumstances evolved out of a collapsed economy and a failed political leadership that perpetuated and continues to perpetuate the redistribution of wealth.

[zaz33]

unaqua -

I came accross an article a while back stating that 90% of college students came from wealthy families.

In Cuba and Venezuela every one has free education through university.

I'm sure other countries are the same.

We treat education like health care.

[Uniqua]

That's is certainly true...we treat education like health care.

I

[DZHarris]

Your senior is probably better off at that fine state school in this day and age in comparison to an expensive private liberal arts college like Wesleyan. In Some states, revenues for education are nearly 50% of the entire budget, why not get a piece of the pie from the taxes you are already paying.

Why pay 200K for a pedigree tag pseudo prestigious school (which is steadliy declining in US News and World Report Rankings?) when you can get a quality education from a prestigous state school, many with higher rankings.

[MarionWatts]

I'm at the lower end of that Boomer group you quoted. My parents grew up in the Depression. My mother finished high school, my father went to work at fourteen. From the day we started kindergarten, all my cousins, contemporary and older, were encouraged to strive for a university degree.

I was lucky enough to obtain a full academic scholarship to the University of Virginia, but there was ample financial aid available in the Seventies to students whose parents couldn't afford tuition. There were the ubiquitous student loans as well as professional scholarships. My cousing secured a state teachers' scholarship, which wrote her college debt off for each year she taught in Virginia. There were ROTC scholarships and industries like B F Goodrich sponsored promising students with a promise of a job and careers after securing a degree.

What happened to all this?

http://emiliawahoo76.blogspot.com
http://myspace.com/virginiadem

[peace4tomorrow]

We need to do more for minority groups, particularly people of color to help them get access to FREE college education. We'll never level the playing field if only those with white-skin privilege get to attend college.

[tiznow]

Why shouldn't everyone have access to FREE college education?

[nolabels]

No we do not. If they are poor, they should get assistance but we do not need to be helping wealthy minority kids above poor white kids. That does not get us to a better place in society. The point is to expand access not outsize it for a particular race.

I went to Michigan where we were required to take a race and ethnicity class. The class was absolutely ruined by a very wealthy black kid who stated on the first day of the class that he was there to teach us white kids what is was like to be black in America. All the while flaunting all of the privileges he had had all along the way. Meanwhile, there was a white kid in the class who had grown up in the toughest neighborhood in Detroit who was constantly offended by this other student's comments because nobody in the class had a tougher shot at getting to a higher education than he did.

I know that one anecdote does not a good policy make. I hope you see my point though. Middle class/wealthy black people have every advantage as their white cohorts (perhaps more - in the case of Michigan, at the time, someone got more points on their application for being black than they did for getting a 1600 on their SAT). Education should be encompassing more people not some people more easily.

[darker]

Let go, already, of the latest SUSTAINABILITY BUZZ WORD.
It's getting old.

In PLAIN LANGUAGE, students need ACCESS TO EDUCATION
instead of ROAD BLOCKS. Mostly financial.

The so-called
"richest country" in the world, USA, has been the poorest in
education future workers and taxpayers. That must change
or we'll sink farther and farther down into Third-World status.

[Indie2008]

We are the "richest country in the world" because of the opportunity to become "rich"- with all the potential for selfishness, greed and inequity that it may imply. Without the opportunity for individuals to succeed financially, there would be no great demand for our institutions of higer education.

[nolabels]

Not true. If schools were cheaper, more people would go to enrich themselves not obtain high-paying jobs so they can get out of mountains of debt more quickly. There will always be people that are just trying to figure out how to make the most money but I can assure you, I would go to much more school if it weren't so astronomically expensive.

[davebart]

why is legislation the answer to educational greater access? what about the role of the universities? what about legacy admissions? isn't the paradox that the liberal institutions which push for social change and social justice are also the place where privilege really counts? How can a university survive economically while remaining true to the concept of social access? What about Michelle Obama's experience as a teen growing up in Chicago, where the institution closest to her did nothing to reach out to its own community? Isn't this the timeless town/gown conflict?

[Shirley Fisk]

5/18/09
5:58pm
Alexandria,VA

I.don't.kn­ow.about.C­hicago.but­.in.Califo­rnia.the.j­unior.coll­eges.were.­FREE.back.­in.the.60'­s.and.
the.state.­universiti­es.were.al­most.FREE.­of.tuition­..And.ther­e.was.stud­ent.housin­g.

Times.have­.changed.a­nd.the.Sta­te.of.Cali­fornia.wan­ts.tuition­.hikes..Ne­eds.them.
Legislatio­n.can.incr­ease.the.P­ell.grants­.and.stude­nt.loan.li­mits.

BTW,
How.should­.the.unive­rsities."r­each.out?"

What.is.th­e.timeless­.town/gown­.conflict?

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

I just got an e-mail that had been sent around my school for a new scholarship. It was provided by the LGTB community for LGTB students. The key distinguishing requirement was that the student must be an "open" member of the LGTB community.

I looked around and couldn't find any scholarships for straight people, where the key requirement was simply a public affirmation of my se.xu.al preferences.

I have never understood how creating inherently dis.crim.ina.tory programs was anti-disc-­rimi-nator­y, perhaps you can explain it for me.

[darker]

How about scholarships for black people? Mormon people? People with disabilities?
There is every color and flavor of scholarship "out there".

Open your eyes AND OPEN YOUR CLOSED MIND.
You -- really need an education.

[Just Margaret]

There's a reason for that...

Straight people are priveleged--we don't have to worry if someone will treat us differently because we are hetero.

It's the same reason there aren't scholarships for whites. Whites enjoy an inherent privelege in simply being white.

That doesn't make it discriminatory. It means the 'leg up' being offered by this particular scholarship is available to those who are a member of the oppressed community--in this case LGTB students.

[KrugnacTheMagnificent]

With all due respect, I think this approach is completely wrong-headed.

Too often, the "means testing" that students are subjected to is based on parents' ABILITY to pay, rather than their WILLINGNESS to pay.

What's the difference between a parent that CAN'T pay, versus one that thinks their kid should have to struggle and earn their degree? According to your model, the only big difference is the amount of financial assistance available to them.

We should be doing what we can to help ALL students, not just a select few. When those in power focus on picking winners and losers, everyone ultimately loses.