College attainment inching toward Obama’s goal
The U.S. was once the world leader when it came to tallying up the number of citizens earning college degrees. America has since taken a fairly steep fall, hitting 16th place according to the latest counts. The dive in college attainment has not sat well with the Obama administration, prompting the president to declare a goal for the number of degree holders in the U.S. by the year 2020: 60 percent of adults. In 2010, 39.3 percent of U.S. adults possessed some variation of a post-secondary degree, up from 38.8 percent in 2009. The data is based on state-by-state Census data.
While the slight uptick is reassuring, the Obama administration told state leaders recently that a group effort between policymakers, educators and other stakeholders will be necessary to reach the administration’s goal and remain competitive in the global marketplace.
“As the president has said, the countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told state leaders at a recent meeting of the National Governors Association.
Massachusetts, North Dakota and the District of Columbia are closest to the desired 60 percent college attainment goal, with their current figures all being over 50 percent. Meanwhile, Nevada, New Mexico and Louisiana have the furthest to go in college attainment at 28.1 percent, 28.9 percent and 29.5 percent, respectively.
