Survey: College increasingly important but pricey

[February 04, 2009]  COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The number of Americans who think a college degree is essential for success has risen dramatically in recent years, a new survey shows, but two-thirds of them also believe that higher education is priced out of reach for some qualified students.

The survey, released Wednesday by the groups Public Agenda and the National Center on Public Policy and Higher Education, underscores the uptick in public anxiety about college affordability during the current recession.

In the 2000 version of the survey, at the end of the Internet bubble and with the success of college dropouts like Bill Gates attracting attention, just 31 percent of respondents called a college degree the only way to succeed in America. That figure jumped to 50 percent in 2007 and 55 percent in the latest survey, conducted late last month.

Perceptions about accessibility are moving in the other direction: Just 30 percent agreed that almost anyone who needs financial aid for college can find it, down from 38 percent in 2007.

"These changes are rather quick given what you normally see in public opinion," said John Immerwahr, a Villanova University professor and senior research fellow at Public Agenda, a nonpartisan group whose mission includes conveying the public's views to policymakers.

Researchers have conducted the survey six times since 1993. This year's survey was based on telephone interviews with 1,009 adults, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

"It seems very clear from this data that the public is going to be very resistant to policymakers and higher education leaders handling this recession as we've handled the last three -- that is by passing most of the pain along to students and families," said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center.

College prices rose 6.4 percent last fall, and a recent, separate report by the National Center flunked 49 of the 50 states on college affordability. That report found low-income families have been hit particularly hard, with the local college costing the average family in the bottom quintile of income 55 percent of their earnings now -- up from 39 percent in 1999-2000.

Prices are expected to rise again as state legislatures plug huge holes in their budgets, but officials in some states, such as Maryland, Kentucky and North Carolina, say they will try to minimize tuition increases next year.

Many colleges are scrounging for money to maintain and even increase financial aid budgets this year, and the stimulus package moving through Congress is likely to boost Pell Grants for low-income students. As for private loans, while some private lenders have stopped making loans or tightened standards, there have been no reported problems with students seeking federal loans.

Fifty-three percent of the poll's respondents said colleges could maintain high-quality education while spending less, and 55 percent said higher education pays more attention to the bottom line than to its educational mission.

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On the Net:

http://www.publicagenda.org/
pages/squeeze-play-2009

[Associated Press; By JUSTIN POPE]

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