{"id":572031,"date":"2021-05-12T18:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T22:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?p=572031"},"modified":"2021-05-14T09:39:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T13:39:26","slug":"the-diploma-disparity-inequity-in-higher-education-costs-u-s-956-billion-per-year-new-report-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/the-diploma-disparity-inequity-in-higher-education-costs-u-s-956-billion-per-year-new-report-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diploma Disparity: Inequity In Higher Education Costs U.S. $956 Billion Per Year, New Report Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Get essential education news and commentary delivered straight to your inbox.\u00a0<\/em>Sign up here<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for The 74\u2019s daily newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Subsidizing college tuition and student loans can be pricey. But how much does it cost state and federal governments to neglect those investments?<\/p>\n

As much as $956 billion per year, a new study<\/a> from Georgetown University suggests.<\/p>\n

The report, released Wednesday by the university\u2019s Center on Education and the Workforce in collaboration with the Gates Foundation-funded Postsecondary Value Commission, examines the potential benefits of raising college degree attainment for underserved groups like Black, Latino and low-income white students.<\/p>\n

It finds that equitizing college completion rates would come with a steep price tag \u2014 $3.97 trillion up front \u2014 but that an added $956 billion per year in tax revenues from boosted wages would mean that the long-term benefits far outweigh the costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic and racial justice are good for public finances,\u201d said lead author Anthony Carnevale, who directs the Georgetown Center. \u201cOur thought experiment revealed the untapped potential in the higher education system for unrealized public gains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/em>THE B.A. BREAKTHROUGH: How Ending Diploma Disparities Can Change the Face of America<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Postsecondary Value Commission published Carnevale\u2019s paper in conjunction with another report<\/a> by the Institute for Higher Education Policy that examines economic mobility and the return on investment for a college education.<\/p>\n

Together, the sibling studies offer a refined picture of who has access to college completion, what jobs those degrees lead to and what those trends mean for society.<\/p>\n

Here are six key takeaways:<\/p>\n

1 Race, class and gender gaps persist in degree attainment & earnings<\/h3>\n

Rates of college completion differ greatly along lines of race and class, the papers found, in alignment with significant prior research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among the top 60 percent of American income earners, 57 percent have an associate degree or higher, compared to only 28 percent of earners in the bottom 40 percent, according to Carnevale\u2019s report. Only 21 percent of Latino adults and 31 percent of Black adults have a postsecondary degree, compared to 46 percent of white adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving through that [higher education] system and getting a decent job is largely race and class based,\u201d the Georgetown researcher told The 74. \u201cAnd stubbornly so.\u201d<\/p>\n