Too Many Higher Education On-Ramps Lead to Dead-Ends

Mary Alice McCarthy wrote for eCampus News about the lack of quality pathways to a bachelors degree:

The resistance to creating more pathways to the BA is one of the least appreciated factors driving our stubbornly low degree attainment rates.

Despite growing enrollments in higher education over the last three decades and large investments aimed at improving college access, our degree completion rate has grown only modestly. From 2000 to 2015, enrollments in higher education increased by 28 percent, but the percentage of Americans with a bachelor’s degree grew by just 5 percent. While the trend is in the right direction, the rate of growth is substantially lower than in many other countries.

There are many reasons why Americans are struggling to earn bachelor’s degrees, the most obvious being the rising cost of higher education. But among the least appreciated obstacles is how hard we make it for students who enroll in career-oriented certificate and associate degree programs to continue on to a four-year degree. These “career and technical” (CTE) programs are designed to help students move directly into a job in two years or less. Not surprisingly, given today’s tough labor market, the programs are very popular, particularly among adult and low-income students who need to balance their educational needs with other financial responsibilities. In fact, the programs make up the fastest growing segment of higher education today, encompassing between one-third to forty percent of all undergraduate awards.[1]

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