At Issue
Michigan posts 'F' grade in college affordability
National report card shows ability to pay is a major reason other nations are overtaking the United States in college enrollment and college completion rates.
Michigan
flunks when it comes to
college affordability, according to“Measuring Up 2006: The National Report
Card on Higher Education,” released
by the nonpartisan National Center for
Public Policy and Higher Education in
September.
The Measuring Up 2006 findings show that younger Americans are falling behind young people from other nations both in college enrollment and college completion rates.
Several nations have overtaken the United States in college access, and others are close behind. In rates of college completion, the United States ranks in the bottom half in the most recent international comparisons.
Affordability is a major reason for declining college graduation rates, the report finds.
Michigan is one of 43 states to receive an F grade in the report’s college affordability category, based mainly on the percentage of a family’s income it takes to attend college.
Net college costs for low-and middle-income students to attend Michigan community colleges—the least expensive colleges in the state—represent 37 percent of their annual family income. (Net college costs equal tuition, room and board, and financial aid.)
For those students at public four-year colleges and universities, net college costs represent approximately one-half of their annual family income. These two sectors enroll 82 percent of college students in Michigan.
At the same time, the report says, the state makes a very low investment in need-based financial aid compared with leading states, and Michigan offers no low-tuition college opportunities.
“Only the wealthiest of American families are exempted from declining college affordability,” said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center. Young adults from high-income families are almost twice as likely as those from low-income families to attend college.
Family income remains the best predictor of who will go to college and which college those students will attend.
Declining affordability of college for families is a critical factor in these choices:
It discourages many low-income students from enrolling in challenging high school courses and even from graduating from high school. Those who believe college is beyond their financial reach have little reason to prepare for it.
Many students resort to “trading down,” that is, choosing less expensive colleges than those that would Michigan’s underperformance in preparing its young population for college could limit the state’s access to a competitive workforce and weaken its economy over time.
Current college graduates—and many students who do not graduate—are the most heavily indebted young Americans in our history. Large debt burdens may discourage some students from accumulating more debt to pursue advanced study, or from less high-paying careers, such as teaching or service in nonprofit organizations.
The national report card issues grades in five other categories in addition to affordability—preparation (C-minus for Michigan), participation (A-minus), completion (B), benefits (A-minus) and learning (incomplete).
For more information on the Measuring Up report card, including Michigan’s performance, go to http://measuringup.highereducation.org.