The Changing Face of Higher Education

We have been reading for some time now about the demographic shift that was occurring in the nation, but I don’t think we in higher education have truly digested the impact it will have on our institutions. Two weeks ago, the Southern Education Foundation released a report, A New Majority, concluding that, for the first time in our history, the majority of students in America who are attending public schools qualify for free and reduced price lunches under a federal program designed to assist the lowest income students. In Maryland, the figure is 43 percent, and in Virginia it is 39 percent. And these are two of the richest states in the nation. While shocking to many, this news has not come as a surprise to those of us who have been paying attention. The reason for the concern is that numerous long-term studies show that students from families in the lowest quarter of income are only about one-fifth as likely to obtain a four-year college degree by age 25 as those from families in the highest quartile. And, unfortunately this gap has been growing.