One of the reasons for the current cost disease in higher education is the number of students that drop out before completing their degree program. According to a report by CollegeMeasures.org, taxpayers spent approximately $9-billion on student dropouts between 2003 and 2008 (Kelderman, 2010). According to Kelderman, this report was based on information from the U.S. Department of Education and focused on first time, full time freshmen at four year institutions, and did not take into account if the student transferred, or enrolled part time. Another report on the current cost of dropouts in the community college setting by
CollegeMeasures.org, is they are costing taxpayers approximately $4-billion. After analyzing five academic years from 2004 to 2009, the amounts spent on these students went to:
· Almost $3 appropriated by state and local governments · $240 million on state student grants
· $660 million in federal student grants
· $3.85 billion in federal, state, and local appropriations and grants (College Measures, 2011)
Solution
CollegeMeasures. org does not offere a solution to the problem, only state that this problem is getting worse every year, and quite frankly I am not sure if I have the solution to this problem either. I often wonder if holding students accountable for what they misuse is appropriate, or do higher education administrators make admissions standards more stringent? I believe if we are able to answer this dilemma it will ultimately answer the cost disease issue in higher education.
College Measures. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.collegemeasures.org/
Kelderman, E. (2010, October). College dropouts cost taxpayers billions, report says. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/College-Dropouts-Cost/124883/
