Though the graduation rate at colleges and universities across the U.S. is slowly improving, the pace is unequipped to meet the growing demand of a skilled work force, according to a study conducted by the Lumina Foundation, an Indianapolis-based private foundation.
The report reveals that 38.7 percent of working-age Americans held a two- or four-year college degree in 2011, when compared to 38.3 percent in 2010 and 38.1 percent in 2009.
At the current pace it is predicted that 48.1 percent of the adults aged 25 to 64 will have earned high-quality degrees and credentials by 2025. This percentage falls well short of the 'Goal 2025,' a national attempt to increase the percentage of Americans with college degrees to 60 percent by 2025.
"Research tells us that 65 percent of U.S. jobs will require some form of postsecondary education by 2020, yet fewer than 40 percent of Americans are educated beyond high school today," said Jamie P. Merisotis, president and chief executive officer of Lumina.
"Our pace of attainment has been too slow and America is now facing a troubling talent gap. If we intend to address this problem, new strategies are required and a heightened sense of urgency is needed among policymakers, business leaders and higher education institutions across our nation."
Merisotis said that cracks in the education pipeline are connected to race, income and other socio-economic factors that must be addressed immediately.
The study says that college attainment has been traditionally uneven across the country, mainly amid low-income, first-generation students, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and adults because they have always been misrepresented among college students and graduates.
The graduation success rate among adults (aged 25-64) in the U.S. continues to remain low when compared to the rate at which Asians earn a college degree. Apparently, 59.1 percent of Asians earn a college degree in comparison to 43.3 percent of whites, 27.1 percent of blacks, 23.0 of Native Americans and 19.3 of Hispanics.
The Asians have also topped graduation rates among the young adults (ages 25-29) cohort. Around 65.6 percent of Asians are estimated to successfully complete their degree versus non-Hispanic whites with 44.9 percent, young African-Americans at 24.7 percent, Hispanics at 17.9 percent and Native Americans at 16.9 percent.
"This is an intolerable situation," said Merisotis. "We certainly must close these gaps to meet the attainment levels that our nation needs. But the fact that these racial achievement differentials even exist must be rejected on both moral and economic grounds, given the increasingly severe consequences that come with not having a degree beyond high school. Our democracy and our economy are ill-served by a system that fails to effectively tap all of our available talent."
