Sarita E. Brown, President, Excelencia in Education, thinks the high cost of college might be preventing the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population from gaining full access to college:

I attended the College Costs: Making Opportunity Affordable summit held in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 2, 2005. Lumina Foundation deserves kudos for taking on the issue of college costs and for deploying its resources to build a constituency willing to meet the challenge of making college affordable. Yet, for all that the summit accomplished, it failed to bring appropriate attention to one critical issue: how college costs and available aid affect Latino students.

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A recent federal report found the cost of attending a public four-year institution rose by 22 percent between 2001-02 and 2004-05, and tuition and fees for in-state students at those institutions grew by 33 percent, more than for any other sector of higher education. (more…)

The most striking aspect of Lumina Foundation’s national summit on college costs on Nov. 2 was the bracingly honest conversations. The presenters did not minimize the challenges — educational, demographic, political and economic — that lie ahead for the U.S. and its colleges and universities. Nor did they shy away from acknowledging that not only have colleges and universities done little to address these challenges, they have little incentive to do so in the current seller’s education market. Except, of course, if they expect to survive over the long term.

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Today, former adversaries are now allies, and the threats to our future are somewhat less nuclear.

Today, the threat we care about most at Lumina Foundation, however, is the tragic loss of human potential. (more…)

With gasoline prices soaring in most parts of the country, many Americans are reminiscing about the days when gasoline was $1.50 a gallon or less. Given the combination of escalating college costs and high school classes that did not prepare them for the rigors of college, many of America’s college students are also longing to turn back the clock.

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This week the College Board released its annual reports, Trends in College Pricing and Trends in Student Aid, along with a supplement to their 2004 report, Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. Together, these reports provide a comprehensive overview of how the published price of a college education has risen over time and the trend in the amount and forms of the financial aid students receive to help them pay the price. Education Pays highlights the returns to individuals and to society as a whole from the public and private investments in higher education, as well as the continuing gaps in participation and success that make an increased focus on making college education accessible and affordable to all eligible students so vital.

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The American economy is changing at lightning speed, but our children are not being prepared to change with it. Millions of jobs that once supported families with only one parent working have gone overseas. Exciting new careers are replacing them, but this new work requires rigorous academic preparation, knowledge of complex technology, excellent communication skills, flexible intellect, extensive and wide-ranging content knowledge, and the ability to gather and synthesize the astonishing range of information available through the Internet.

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