After high school
Most young adults recognize
the value of college to their
future, but about one in three
do not go on to any form of
higher education, a recent
survey shows.
Percentage of young adults
who agree that it’s easier to
move up in a company with
a college degree
Black.89%
Hispanic.94%
Asian American.89%
White, non-Hispanic.92%
Reasons they give for not
going
i wanted to work and make money
I couldn’t afford it
I had too many other responsibilities
I had enough of school and didn’t
want to go anymore
My grades were too low
My career goals didn't require a
college degree
24%
Percentage of employed
young adults who say
that their current job ...
■H Have a degree*
I."""I No degree
was chosen by chance
it 9 1 5 /o
is a stepping-stone to a career
is just a job to get by
* Includes those who have completed a
four- or two-year college, or vocational
school program
About this survey: based on telephone
interviews with a national random sample
of 1,000 young adults aged 18-25
conducted between Aug 14 and Sept. 4,
2004, margin of error is ± 3 percentage
points, higher for subgroups.
SOURCE: Public Agenda
AP
Finances create
obstacle between
students, college
College-age adults see value in secondary education,
but lack motivation, encouragement and energy
BY BEN FELLER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Young
adults value college, but many
haven’t enrolled because of money
woes, poor preparation, low expecta
tions at home or sheer laziness, a
survey finds.
The result is that seven in 10
young workers without college de
grees say they are in their jobs by
chance, not by choice. Less than two
in 10 view their jobs as likely careers.
Overall, most adults age 18 to
25 see college as a way to earn so
ciety’s respect and ensure finan
cial security, says the survey by
Public Agenda, a nonpartisan pub
lic opinion group. The positive
view of college is true regardless
of race, ethnicity or family income.
“Most young people have ab
sorbed the ‘Go to college, get more
education’ message,” said Ruth
Wooden, the Public Agenda presi
dent. “Whether they’re getting the
nuts-and-bolts, real-life help and
guidance they need to reach that goal
— to actually succeed in graduating
from college — is another matter. ”
Roughly one in three young
Americans does not go on to any
form of higher education, and
many of those who enroll don’t end
up graduating, the report says,
quoting. Census figures.
Other recent analyses offer even
lower rates of college enrollment and
completion, which has helped fuel a
national interest in improving the rig
or of high school. Those who gradu
ate from a four-year college tend to
have lower unemployment and high
er earnings.
The new findings come from ran
dom phone interviews of 1,000
young adults last year, plus oversam
pling to ensure representation of
black, Hispanic and Asian adults.
The tally includes those with college
degrees, college students, college
dropouts and full-time workers.
Almost half of those who never
enrolled or dropped out said college
wasn’t for them because they want
ed to work and make money. Al
most as many said they couldn’t af
ford college.
Yet by age 33, the typical college
graduate has earned enough to
compensate for both the cost of at
tending a four-year public school
and for earnings passed up during
the college years, said Gaston Ca
perton, president of the nonprofit
College Board.
“We need to address disconcerting
evidence that the cost of higher edu
cation is a deterrent, and in some
cases a deal-breaker, for many stu
dents,” Caperton said.
There are other obstacles, too.
Almost eight in 10 adults without
a college degree acknowledged they
could have paid more attention and
worked harder in high school. More
than half said their high school
teachers made it easy to do just
enough to get by.
And only 32 percent of young
adults without a degree said parents
strongly expected them to go to col
lege — a huge gap from the 67 per
cent with degrees who got such en
couragement.
The survey’s margin of sampling
error was plus or minus 3 percent
age points.
Among other findings:
— Almost nine in 10 young adults
expect their financial circumstances
to improve by age 30, and most of
them expect that improvement to be
significant.
— Three in four young Asian
American adults think they will be fi
nancially better off than their par
ents, and almost as many blacks and
Hispanics say the same about them
selves. Not as many white adults —
57 percent — are as optimistic.
— Almost nine in 10 young adults
agreed “college is not for everyone.”
Wyoming 'diploma
mills' criticized for
non-accreditation
BY MEAD GRUVER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The cam
pus of American Capital University
has no tree-shaded quadrangle, no
stately old buildings or libraries, no
classrooms, no fraternity houses —
not even a student curled up with a
book in a quiet corner.
There’s just a middle-aged man
who sits at a computer in a tiny, un
decorated, windowless office in the
basement of a downtown building.
But in a sense, this fellow — Bill
Allen, American Capital University’s
chief academic officer — has lots of
company: Wyoming licenses 10 other
online schools that are not accredited
by any mainstream organization and
maintain only a token physical pres
ence in the state.
Defenders of such schools say
Wyoming is forward-thinking for ac
cepting a relatively inexpensive way
for working adults to get degrees in
their spare time through mail and In
ternet courses. But others say the state
has become a haven for diploma mills.
“People start to giggle if you say
‘Wyoming-licensed school,’ if you
know about accreditation,” said
George Gollin, a University of Illi
nois physics professor and crusader
against diploma mills, which are
schools that offer degrees for little
or no academic work.
Because of loose state requirements,
more online schools are popping up in
Wyoming than anywhere else, accord
ing to Steven Crow, executive director
of the North Central Association of
Colleges and Schools, the regional
school accreditation agency.
“Most other states have enough rig
or in how they determine who can op
erate as a college and grant degrees
that it’s not as easy for places to get
started,” he said.
Online schools flourish in Wyoming
Due to loose state requirements, more online schools are
found in Wyoming than in any other state. Defenders of such
schools say they are a relatively inexpensive way for working
adults to get degrees in their spare time. Others say the
state has become a haven for diploma mills.
Teiitale signs of a bogus school or diploma mill
School’s name sound like
or looks like that of a well
known college or university
or is relatively new or has
changed its name.
Few or
unspecified
degree
requirements
or none at all
Tuition is
charged by the
degree, not per
credit, course
or semester.
Check to see if the school is accredited by a
recognized legitimate agency. The U.S.
Department of Education keeps a database
of accredited institutions on their Web site at
www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation.
SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission
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