As previously noted, US education has significant problems whatever age group or education stage one looks at. In this article below, graduation rates are examined at various colleges and universities in the US. Unsurprisingly, high rates of dropouts are discerned, and theories for same are explored, with lots of statistics.
Yet again the point is made that “getting” a college degree is the single most important factor in escaping generational poverty. So it’s important to figure out how to increase college completion rates far beyond where they are today, This will involve spreading the word broadly on how much benefit will accrue to communities and states, if this problem can be solved.
Locally, NMSU has had an ongoing series of tuition rate hikes in recent years, which seem driven by the politics of spending on higher education at times of budget woes. Perhaps that trend can be reversed with budget surpluses now occurring in NM.
But even with more state legislative support, the costs at state supported institutions will still be prohibitive for many., The problem needs to be examined in depth for truly affordable higher education to occur in the US, as school loan debt just keeps climbing and now over a Trillion $.
And costs are just one of many factors involved in college dropouts today.
Here’s the link to the story. It has a lot of interactive graphics, so one needs to use the actual link to the NYTimes site. Hopefully it’s not behind a pay wall for you.