U.S. lags in college degrees for younger generation

National Center for Higher Education Management Systems

Virginia's population ranks eighth in the United States for percentage of residents with college degrees.

But the U.S. lags behind nearly every developed nation in the percentage of degrees held by its younger generation.

The sobering news was delivered yesterday during a meeting at the state Capitol in Richmond of the Council on Virginia's Future.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is chairman of the bipartisan council of legislators, academics and private industry leaders.

"The reality is being best in the United States isn't good enough anymore," said Dennis Jones of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, a private nonprofit research group based in Boulder, Colo. "That's the only way economic security and quality of life is going to be sustained."

Jones said the nation is lagging behind in the higher-education attainment of its younger population.

"In the United States 25-to-34-year-olds -- about 38 percent have a college degree, including a two-year degree," Jones said. "The best performing countries -- Canada, Korea, Japan -- that's up around 52 percent. That's a huge difference."

Jones said the disturbing part of the trend is that with the exception of Germany, the U.S. is the only nation where the older generation is going to be better educated than the younger generation.

"The bottom line is Virginia needs a better-educated population than it's going to get if it does business as usual," Jones said.

"It's going to have to find new ways to do that because no state can afford more education at the prices and the costs that we're incurring, or it will steadily drop in competition with the rest of the world."

Said Kaine: "I've been very concerned about this."

During the last budget cycle, Kaine pushed for expanded, need-based financial aid to community colleges and four-year schools.

"The area where we have the most to do is having students who start twoand four-year colleges, finish," Kaine said.

He said research shows Virginia students also need to be better prepared to succeed in higher learning because a high percentage have to take remedial math and English programs.

"We have to work on that," Kaine said. "We can't let other nations beat us in this."

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .