Rich Students Receive More Funds than Poor Students Carrie Warick, NCAN Director of Partnerships and Policy Economists have a rule of thumb: for every year increase in the average education level of a nation, long-term economic growth increases 3-4%. For this reason, having a more educated populace is to the advantage of the entire nation. Alarmingly, the U.S. has dropped from 3rd to 13th in the world in higher education, with average college dropout rate hovering around 50%. The developed world on average has a college drop rate of 31%. Students – at all ethnicities and income levels – are improving their test scores and enrolling in colleges at rates above previous generations. But yet our country continues to falter on the international scale with growing achievement gaps at home. Why are the gaps growing? Those in the upper-income end of the spectrum are excelling at much faster rates than those in the bottom. Currently, a student born into the lowest income-quintile is EIGHT TIMES LESS likely to attend a highly selective college than one born in the highest income quintile. Exacerbating this problem, the amount selective colleges spend on students has increased at twice the rate as the per pupil spending rate at the least selective colleges. Sadly, this difference in achievement can be traced back to pre-school. Most alarming, as outlined in the Council on Foreign Relations report, Remedial Education: Federal Education Policy, is the amount of funding the government, at all levels, uses towards upper-income students rather than low-income students. Unlike most other developed countries, the United States spends more on upper income students, rather than more on lower income students. Why is this? At the K-12 level, it is because the majority of funding comes from property taxes. At the higher education level, it is because the Pell Grant purchasing power has not kept pace with increasing cost of higher education while funding continues to go into tax breaks for families with middle- and upper-incomes. This information and much more is outline visually in a report card accompanying the report and a thoughtful opinion piece by report author Rebecca Strauss. The images should be a wakeup call for policymakers unaware of the long term economic consequences and a reminder to all of us why we keep working hard for our students.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 14:29:23 +0000
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