The Costs of Remediation

            About 66% of high school graduates enter college each year, though many of these students are unprepared for the academic challenges of college (Bettinger & Long, 2009).  In fact, often unpreparedness is so severe that schools expel students.  In 2001, the California State University system let more than 2,200 members of the freshman class (almost 7%) go for failing at basic English and math skills (Bettinger & Long, 2009).  However, the more common solution for U.S. higher education institutions is to place the lagging first year students (nearly 33% in 2001) in remedial courses in reading, writing, and mathematics (Bettinger & Long, 2009).  A few different studies from the late 1990s found that the expenditure on remedial education for the 33% of freshmen who required it ranged from $250 million to just over $1 billion out $87.1 billion spent on higher education instruction (Saxon & Boylan, 2001).  Whether it is quarter of a billion or over a billion dollars, this money is being spent on instruction that should have taken place in secondary school.  The studies do not indicate how much of this money comes from each student’s pocket (from cash, loans) or from government subsidies and grants, but it does not really matter.  The cost to the greater economy and the individual student remains the same.  The economy and student suffer the additional cost of “re-paying” for an educational service, and both suffer from the opportunity cost of the student using the time spent in class and studying for a remedial course instead of doing something else that is more productive for society.

            The solution to this problem seems simple.  Society needs to ensure that students who enter college are prepared for the coursework.  However simple this sounds, the reality is that there needs to be better communication between primary/secondary schools and institutes of higher education.  The most conceivable way to this is to begin on a local level.  Particularly, in addition to being prepared for college beginning in middle school, students should be continually reminded of what to expect after high school.  They should be encouraged to take more challenging courses and told that “barely getting by” will not prepare them for the next level.  In addition, prospective college students should be counseled by educators and older peers about not entering college unprepared.  For example, it would probably behoove many students to wait a year to enroll in college in order to remediate themselves.  Also, parents to be educated about the possible prudence of a decision like this.  I think that many parents force the issue of immediate enrollment because they are ready for their kids to leave or they want to make sure that they evolve socially with the peer group (age group) that they always have. 

Bettinger & Long. (2009). Addressing the needs of underprepared students in higher education: Does college remediation work? The Journal of Human Resources, 44(3), 736-771.

Saxon & Boylan. (2001). The cost of remedial education in higher education. Journal of Developmental Education, 25(2), 1-8. Retrieved from http://www.ncde.appstate.edu/resources/reports/documents/Outstanding_JDE_V25-2.pdf