Thursday, November 19, 2009
College crisis is a disaster California can't afford
The San Diego Union-Tribune's business writer Dean Calbreath reports on the "education apocalypse" in the state of California. In "College Crisis is a Disaster California Can't Afford," he offers the following examples:
-- By 2014 there will be 640,000 more college applicants in California than colleges and universities have room to handle.
-- Colleges are already turning away students. The San Diego Community College District put between 10,000 and 20,000 on waiting lists this year.
-- By 2025, if current trends continue, 41 percent of jobs in California will require college degrees, while only 35 percent of Californians will have graduated from college, translating into a shortage of 1 million college-educated workers, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, or PPI, a think tank in San Francisco.
Already, among the 20 most populous states, California ranks 19th in the percentage of high school graduates who enroll directly in a four-year college or university; 18th in the percentage who enroll in any college, including community colleges; and 18th in the ratio of bachelor's degrees awarded to high school graduates. Although the state likes to promote its “highly educated work force” as a drawing card to high-tech firms, 44 other states have higher percentages of graduates in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
FULL STORY
-- By 2014 there will be 640,000 more college applicants in California than colleges and universities have room to handle.
-- Colleges are already turning away students. The San Diego Community College District put between 10,000 and 20,000 on waiting lists this year.
-- By 2025, if current trends continue, 41 percent of jobs in California will require college degrees, while only 35 percent of Californians will have graduated from college, translating into a shortage of 1 million college-educated workers, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, or PPI, a think tank in San Francisco.
Already, among the 20 most populous states, California ranks 19th in the percentage of high school graduates who enroll directly in a four-year college or university; 18th in the percentage who enroll in any college, including community colleges; and 18th in the ratio of bachelor's degrees awarded to high school graduates. Although the state likes to promote its “highly educated work force” as a drawing card to high-tech firms, 44 other states have higher percentages of graduates in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
FULL STORY
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