...For years, an article of faith in this country has been that college is the gateway to a better life. So deeply held is this belief that many students, such as Horn, borrow tens of thousands of dollars to attend prestigious public or private universities. But as the worst recession since World War II trudges into its 21st month, many graduates are discovering that the college payoff could be a long time coming -- if it comes at all. New and prospective students, meanwhile, are abandoning their "dream schools" in favor of more affordable options, forcing many colleges to work harder to justify their price of admission. In July, the unemployment rate for college graduates was 4.7%, up from 2.8% a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's still considerably lower than the 9.4% rate for workers with only a high school diploma. But unlike out-of-work high school graduates, many unemployed college grads face the additional burden of student loan payments. Two-thirds of bachelor's degree recipients last year graduated with an average debt of about $23,000, according to Finaid.org, a financial aid website...
President Obama says a bill in Congress would help him send millions more Americans to college. But the measure may fall short of Obama's goal. The bill would boost Pell Grants for needy students. But it does nothing to curb college costs, which rise much faster than Pell Grants do...
...Bachelor's degrees, regardless of the field of study, are almost all based on four years in the classroom. A handful of new majors are beginning to emerge on college campuses, and interdisciplinary programs like women's studies and environmental science have found a niche, but the basic constellation of college majors has been highly stable. At community colleges and in graduate schools, new specialized degrees come and go all the time in response to market demands, scientific innovations, and emerging social problems. Baccalaureate majors are much more firmly fixed. (According to federal statistics, the top 10 bachelor's-level fields of study in 2006-7 were the same as those of 1980-81, albeit in a different order.) Is that constancy a sign of health or a sign of stagnation? It is not hard to find people who argue the latter...
For almost three years, research universities and doctoral programs across the country have pulled out all the stops to participate in the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States, conducted by the National Research Council of the National Academies. With its much-delayed release due this fall, the report affects the reputations and relative standings of universities across the nation, and stands as the authoritative source on the quality of American doctoral programs...
