economic realities: a driving force

editorially speaking

Economic Realities: A Driving Force Changes of far-reaching importance to high education

are occurring external to it. Historically, the process of higher education has been effectively sheltered from exter- nal forces, but in the last decade or so, society's growing interest in postsecondary education has created several pressure points that will surely change forever the charac- ter of educational institutions. From one point of view, pos- sibly one not appreciated by many involved with higher education, colleges and universities have become less rele- vant to society because they have yet to understand, much less respond to, the demands being placed upon them.

Like it or not, the most relentless pressure on colleges and universities stems from the changing nature of the American economy and the role a college degree has come to play in pmvidingaccess to good jobs. The transformation of the economy from a manufacturing base to a service (in- formation) base and the substantial decline of high-wage, traditional blue-collar employment drives the current as- sociation of a college degree with a good job. The evidence is persuasive. In 1981, nearly 9% of the nation's top-paying jobs were held by persons in the manufacturing sector who had attained only a high school education. A decade later the share of those jobs fell by one-third (to 6%), repre- senting an absolute decline of nearly a half-million work- ers in a labor force that had increased by almost 12 million. The job prospects for most college graduates, on the other hand, have been very different. Most of the growth in top- paying jobs during the past decade has come in the part of the service sector that provides employment to holders of the baccalaureate degree. The gap in expected earnings be- tween college and high school graduates has increased by 20 percentage points over the last decade. Indeed, even an education corresponding to "some college" has come to have a significant impact on expected earnings, and em- ployers are increasingly relying on associate degrees and technical certificates offered by community colleges as a method of screening job applicants.

Much of the interest shown by today's workers in ob- taining college degrees is prompted by the recognition that they will become increasingly disadvantaged in a harsh job market. Blocked fmm promotion and occupying jobs in a declining manufacturing sector, they have helped swell the ranks of older-than-average college students to the point where they have become a sizable cohort in higher education's new majority.

For students entering college directly from high school, the fear of not finding a job is redefining their college years. Vocationalism now affects everything from the choice of an academic major to student demand for aca- demic advising, career counseling, and job placement serv- ices. Parents are increasingly measuring the quality of higher education in terms of their children's ability to ob- tain secure and well-payingjobs. Students are asking simi- lar questions as they face the harsh realities of rising lev- els of educational indebtedness.

The vocational purposes now being associated with higher education have, of course, led to increased demand for the baccalaureate degree with the result that college and univer- sity enrollments are rising. There is also a gmwinginterest in an education designed for the whole person-the modem ver-

sion of the renaissance person--that will enable graduates to succeed in a variety of different jobs.

Higher edu~ation's~vocationall~~oriented students, the "new majority", seek a reasonable limit to what their edu- cation will cost; look for access to programs that will result in meaningful jobs; seek a reduction of institutional bu- reaucratic impediments to a degree; and want assurances that shiftine financial and nolitical fortunes will not place a higher edzcation beyond their grasp.

Public appropriations are increasingly being replaced by market force revenues, that is revenues derived fmm activi- ties that are deemed to be the financial responsibility of indi- vidual students--basically student fees. As the need to pare state budgets has forced reconsideration of public priorities, state eovernments have beam to differentiate between the - - research and educational missions of institutions as well as between higher education and other ~ublic services such as the public &hool system, social welf&e, and health care. In- creasingly, legislatures have come to regard higher education as more of a private than a public good. Because college de- grees translate into higher paying jobs, many puliticians con- clude that a college education contnhutes more to individual advancement than to the nation's social fabric. Students in postsecondary public institutions increasingly are being asked to pay for an even greater share of the costs of their education. This philosophical shfi has numerous ramifica- tions, e.g., the possibility of ending direct appmpriations to ~ublic institutions and renlacine them with a voucher svstem ihat would make "public' instikions compete directli with private ones for this form of public funding. Adoption of tui- tion and policies that would distribute public moneys in the form of financial aid to economically disadvantaged students attending public institutions would leave all other students to pay nearly the full cost of their education. There is a gmw- ing suggestion that appropriations for public education at flagship institutions amount to a public tax for the benefit of the economically advantaged whose children neither need nor deserve such subsidies for their college education. -

Hieher education's "roarine vears" ended because the econ- omy>hanged and because GwerM groups responsible for funding higher education--the makers and shapers of public policy, governors, legislators, regulators, heads of public aencies. and private philanthropists-have developed a real concern about the system's doa.neas to respond to extfrnal Drvssurrs. Manv of those rcspons~ble for haher education's fimding believe-that collegesAand universiti& have become too isolated from the economic hardships that beset most other American institutions and its peoples. Many policy makers feel that higher education has yet to fulfill promises that often figured in its funding over the last three decades: promises such as access for under-represented populations, fostering economic development for states and regions, and producing an educated and skilled citizenry Particularly troublineto manv consumers of the nmduds ofhieher educa- - tion is that tno oRcn grnduaws arc produccd who do not have sufficient skills to be either cffectlve workersor informed citl- zens. Even the best and brightest oRen are perceived to ex- hibit a self-centered amressiveness that renders them inca- pable of working effectively with others; they cannot collaborate, only compete with each other. JJL

Volume 71 Number 8 August 1994 627