Study: U.S. lagging in univ. degrees

According to a study released by the Lumina Foundation for Education, your dream job could be in danger of being outsourced.

The foundation's Making Opportunity Affordable: Reinvesting in College Access and Success initiative released a report earlier this month entitled "Hitting Home" that suggests that the United States is falling behind other countries in the amount of degrees that are being produced within its borders - a troubling trend for Americans as globalization continues to spread.

But experts believe that making higher education more affordable and available to minorities and low-income families will help the U.S. make up ground already lost to other countries.

"Students need to know they will be able to afford a college education," National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities spokesman Tony Pals said.

The report currently lists the U.S. behind Canada, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland and Norway in respect to the percentage of the population between 25 and 34 that have earned at least an associate's degree.

In the 45-to-54 age group, on the other hand, the United States and Canada are at the top.

Many see the declining amount of American scholars troubling on more than one level.

"It's important for the U.S. to remain the center for creating human and intellectual capital," Association of American Universities spokesman Barry Toiv said. "It should be a priority for government at all levels.

Travis Reindl, the author of "Hitting Home," added that there will be economic repercussions as well, including the outsourcing of technology jobs that require a college education.

"What's it to Hewlett-Packard if they move their headquarters from San Jose to Dublin?" he asked.

Reindl believes that targeting minorities, the fastest-growing segment of the population and the most underrepresented in higher education, would avoid "creating a permanent underclass."

"Many of these degrees [needed to catch up with other countries] will have to be earned by minority, adult, and low-income students who traditionally have not fared well in degree attainment," Making Opportunities Affordable said in a press release.

But colleges do not bear all of the blame, Reindl said.

He emphasized the need to ease the transtition from high school to college because many students in America start college and never earn a degree due to a lack of preparation.

"There needs to be more communication between high schools and colleges," he said.

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