Too Many Students, Too Little Money?

Community colleges around the country are facing tough choices on how many students they can actually serve – choices that Public Agenda's research shows are running right into the public's biggest concerns about higher education.

The Washington Post reports this week that there's a danger many students will be turned away, because of two trends driven by the same root problem: the economy. State governments facing budget problems are slashing their aid to higher education, even as enrollment rises. More and more students are turning to less-expensive two-year colleges either to learn new skills or as a more affordable alternative to four-year programs. That means community college leaders, with their traditional commitment to open enrollment, are facing crucial, painful decisions.

Clearly, you can't make those kinds of choices without knowing what the public wants and needs from higher education. In Squeeze Play 2009: The Public's Views on College Costs Today, conducted for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, we found the public already feels that college is becoming less affordable even as attending college is becoming more necessary.

The number of Americans who say a college education is a necessity has jumped 24 points over the last eight years, from 31 percent in 2000 to 55 percent in 2008. Yet two-thirds also say many qualified people don't have the opportunity to go to college. That number has jumped almost as much, from 45 percent in 1998 to 67 percent last year.

There's also a clear warning sign for college leaders in our research. Higher education has always had a great deal of public goodwill, but Public Agenda's recent surveys show worrying levels of anxiety and skepticism. Slightly more than half of the public (55 percent) says colleges today are more like businesses and mainly care about the bottom line." Nearly as many say colleges could "spend less and still maintain quality. And nearly half say their state's public college system needs to be ""fundamentally overhauled."

Given those numbers, higher education leaders need to reach out to the public as they're figuring out how to complete their mission with the money they've got. The public cares about higher education. It matters to them. And public support is a critical asset as these decisions are made.