I recently had the chance to read a research report titled “With Their Whole Lives Ahead of Them,” published by Public Agenda with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  The authors of the report surveyed over 600 young adults between the ages of 22 and 30.  The purpose of the survey was to compare the answers of students who dropped out of college to the answers of students who graduated within the three year (for community colleges) or six year (for four-year colleges) standards as measured by the U.S. Department of Education.  Jean Johnson and Jon Rochkind, along with Amber Ott and Samantha DuPont, wanted to validate the reasons why students depart from colleges before graduating and see if the students themselves offered reasons different than many of the recent research studies.

The authors point out that according to the U.S. Department of Education, only 20 percent of community college students graduate within three years and only 40 percent of four year college students graduate within six years.  In fact, only 27 percent of college students attend the traditional residential college that most people envision as the idyllic college environment.  Even more telling of the changes in college student profiles, 45 percent of students attending four year colleges reported working more than 20 hours per week and 60 percent of students attending two year colleges reported working more than 20 hours per week.

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Public Agenda and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education (NCPPHE) recently issued their report entitled Squeeze Play 2009: The Public’s Views on College Costs Today.  Given the state of the economy, Public Agenda and the NCPPHE decided to conduct a survey in December 2008 that they had conducted two years previously for their Squeeze Play 2007 report.

There were a couple of significant findings in this study.  For example, more Americans than ever believe that obtaining a college degree is the only way to succeed in America.  From a low of three out of ten Americans agreeing with that statement in 2000, the number has almost doubled to fifty-five percent, up twenty-four percent in only eight years.  In previous studies, people cited Bill Gates as an example of why you didn’t need a college degree to succeed, but this year’s survey has tipped the balance toward a majority believing that college degrees are a necessity.

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