"We have entered an era where continuing to conduct [higher education] 'business as usual' will be increasingly difficult, if not impossible." -- Andrew P. Kelly and Mark Schneider in Getting to Graduation: The Completion Agenda in Higher Education
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 30, 2012
In their new book, American Enterprise Institute (AEI) higher education experts Andrew P. Kelly and Mark Schneider examine the dramatic and unprecedented increase in expectations for American higher education since 2010, when President Obama boldly challenged the nation to once again have "the highest proportion of college graduates in the world."
Getting to Graduation (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012) evaluates the new higher education agenda. The contributors explore where we stand in the effort to improve graduation rates and identify which sectors in higher education could be improved to accomplish the President's challenge.
The contributors in Getting to Graduation write that it is essential for policymakers to:
- Consider a broader range of learning opportunities--beyond the research university and traditional bachelor degree programs--to include community colleges, occupational certificate programs, and apprenticeships.
- Rethink policies governing financial aid, remediation, and institutional funding to promote degree completion.
- Look to the states, both for examples of scalable policies that have proven successful at the state level, and to do much of the "real work" in implementing higher education reforms.
"A solid body of work on an important topic that is not getting the kind of analytical attention it deserves."
--Jane Wellman, Delta Project on Postsecondary Costs, Productivity, and Accountability
Click here for more information about the book.
Andrew P. Kelly (andrew.kelly@aei.org) is a research fellow at AEI, where Mark Schneider (mschneider@air.org) is a visiting scholar. Both can also be reached through Lauren Aronson at lauren.aronson@aei.org or 202.862.5904.
For additional help, other media inquiries, or to reserve AEI's in-house TV studio or ISDN facilities, please contact:
TV Jesse Blumenthal jesse.blumenthal@aei.org / 202.862.4870
Radio Michael Pratt michael.pratt@aei.org / 202.862.5823
Print or Web Jesse Blumenthal jesse@aei.org / 202.862.4870, Michael Pratt at michael.pratt@aei.org / 202.862.5823, or Veronique Rodman at vrodman@aei.org / 202.862.487









