|
Affordable Education Enriches Graduates, Nation
by Eduardo Padrón, the Miami Herald, February 10, 2009
When the recently passed economic stimulus package was being debated in Congress, its education component—which would support increased federal need-based Pell grants for college students and provide states with money to address higher education issues—met serious resistance from legislators. It seemed, writes Miami Dade College president and AAC&U board chair Eduardo Padrón in a Miami Herald opinion column, that many lawmakers did not see education spending as among the pressing needs of our nation. But nothing could be further from the truth, Padrón argues. “Education is the underlying pillar that, if neglected, is sure to diminish any hope of a resurgent American economy.”
Padrón tallies up the grim statistics: between 1985 and 2005, the cost of attending a four-year college increased 439 percent. More than two million low-income students who are qualified to attend college do not do so because they can’t afford it. And thirty years ago, the United States led the world in granting bachelor’s degrees; today, we barely make the top-ten list.
The real problem, Padrón writes, is that too many students don’t even see college as a possibility. The crisis goes beyond funding to a “deficit of understanding.” While the passage of the stimulus package is a fundamental step, it cannot solve the problem. “Our task is to reverse the momentum of recent years and value education as it was intended to be valued in the United States,” Padrón writes. “A country that devalues education will not thrive.”
Read the entire opinion article online.
|
