Higher Education’s Supply-Demand Problem

Secondary education is moving towards a “college-education-for-all” mantra, yet higher education is not funded adequately to meet increased demand. Anthony Carnevale, the Director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, explains the problem in yesterday’s Inside Higher Ed:

"The scale of our public commitment to postsecondary education has outrun the scale of our public financing policies."

The result of under-funding higher education, according to Carnevale is swelling “second rate” public colleges characterized by increased class sizes, limited course offerings, little academic counseling, and rising tuitions and fees. The pressure on these colleges is immense, and right now, we mostly stand by as they buckle under the strain of increased demand and fail to adequately educate students.