The Education of American Workers

American workers are better educated than ever before. Before the end of World War II (1939–45), with the exception of doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, and some other professionals, very few people earned higher degrees for the purpose of preparing for a career or vocation. More typically, a person who wanted training for a job or occupation went to a vocational high school or became an apprentice, learning a trade from a highly skilled mentor.

The GI Bill of Rights, introduced in 1944 during World War II, changed the way Americans viewed higher education. The soldiers, sailors, and pilots returning to civilian life wanted to make better lives for themselves, and the U.S. government was willing to pay to give them the chance. Federal money paid to America's returning veterans opened up and enlarged trade and vocational schools and filled college class-rooms across the nation. Since that time American colleges and universities have been graduating more and more engineers, accountants, scientists, business-people, technicians, nurses, and others with similar professional and technical careers.

How Well Educated Are Americans?

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), significant increases were registered in the twentieth century in the number of years of school completed by students. The median number of school years completed (half of the students completed more, and half completed less) by American students increased from 8.4 years in 1930 to thirteen years by 1993. (The NCES no longer publishes data on median number of years completed.) In 1930 fewer than one in five Americans aged twenty-five and over (19.1%) were high school graduates. Since that time the proportion has steadily increased; in March 2004, 85.2% of Americans aged twenty-five and older had completed high school. In addition, 27.7% of Americans had completed a bachelor's degree or higher as of 2004, compared with only 2.7% in 1910. The March 2004 figure for college graduates is the highest recorded since statistics were compiled beginning in 1910. (See Table 4.1.)

Who Is in College?

In 1970, 8.6 million high school graduates were enrolled in degree-granting institutions including colleges and universities. By 2004 enrollment had surpassed seventeen million, and by 2005 was approximately 17.4 million. The latest projections by the National Center for Education Statistics in Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, estimate that enrollment for 2014 will be 19.5 million. (See Table 4.2.)

GENDER

Not only have enrollment numbers changed, so have the demographic characteristics of students,

TABLE 4.1 Years of school completed by persons age 25 and ever and 25-29, by race/ethnicity and sex, 1910–2004

TABLE 4.1 Years of school completed by persons age 25 and ever and 25-29, by race/ethnicity and sex, 1910–2004 (CONTINUED)

TABLE 4.1 Years of school completed by persons age 25 and over and 25-29, by race/ethnicity and sex, 1910–2004 (CONTINUED) Adapted from "Table 8. Percent of Persons Age 25 and Over and 25 to 29, by Years of School Completed, Race/Ethnicity, and Sex: Selected Years, 1910 to 2004," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_008.asp (accessed January 10, 2006)

TABLE 4.2 Total fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions by attendance status, age sex, selected years, 1970–2014

TABLE 4.2 Total fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions by attendance status, age sex, selected years, 1970–2014 (CONTINUED) "Table 173. Total Fall Enrollment in Degree-Granting Institutions, by Attendance Status, Age, and Sex: Selected Years, 1970 to 2014," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_173.asp (accessed January 10, 2006)

from gender and age to minority status. Over the past thirty years a dramatic shift has been seen in the gender makeup of fall enrollees at degree-granting institutions. In 1976 male students predominated on college campuses, with 5.8 million (52.7%) of the eleven million fall enrollees being men that year compared with 5.2 million female students (47.3%). By 1990 male students made up 45.5% of fall enrollment at U.S. colleges and universities (6.3 million out of a total enrollment of 13.8 million), and women accounted for 54.5% of college students (7.5 million). This trend continued through the 1990s, and in 2000 male students comprised only 43.9% (6.7 million out of 15.3 million) of fall enrollees, while women increased to 56.1% (8.6 million). The proportions in 2002 remained nearly steady at 43.4% (7.2 million out of 16.6 million) for men and 56.6% (9.4 million) for women. (See Table 4.3.)

Increased female enrollment has contributed to overall growth in college enrollment. From 1990 through 2002 male enrollment increased from 6.3 million to 7.2 million (a 14.6% increase), while the number of females rose by 24.9%, from 7.5 million to 9.4 million. Between 2002 and 2014 female enrollment is projected to increase 21%, to 11.4 million, while male enrollment is expected to rise 12.2% to 8.1 million. (See Table 4.2.)

OLDER STUDENTS

Since 1970 there has been a significant increase in the percentage of older students enrolled in college. In 1970, 27.8% of the 8.6 million students enrolled in degree-granting institutions were aged twenty-five or older. That figure includes one million (12.5%) who were between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine, 487,000 (5.7%) who were aged thirty to thirty-four, and 823,000 students (9.6%) who were aged thirty-five or older. By fall 2002, 6.5 million (39.4%) of the total 16.6 million full- and part-time college enrollees were aged twenty-five or more. This included 2.1 million students (12.7%) who were between the ages of twenty-five and twenty-nine, 1.3 million students (7.8%) who were aged thirty to thirty-four, and 3.1 million (18.9%) who were thirty-five or older. From 2002 to 2014 the National Center for Education Statistics projects a rise of 16.1% (from roughly ten million to 11.7 million) in enrollments of people twenty-four and under and only a 4.7% increase (from 3.1 million to 3.3 million) in the number of those thirty-five and over. (See Table 4.2.)

The increased enrollment of older students may reflect the higher education levels required by many occupations and the return to school of those who had previously left school to work. Historically, older students generally begin or return to degree programs in order to handle involuntary career transitions or to upgrade their skills in order to advance at their current jobs or prepare to seek new employment.

MINORITY ENROLLMENT

The enrollment of minority students (non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and Alaskan Natives) in higher education has been rising steadily. In 1976, of the eleven million students enrolled in degree-granting institutions, 1.7 million (15.4%) were from minority groups, compared to 28.2% in 2000 (4.3 million of 15.3 million) and 29.3% in 2002 (4.9 million of 16.6 million). Much of the increase can be traced to larger numbers of Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander students, who made up about 22% of minority enrollment in institutions of higher education during 2002 (1.1 million of the minority student population of 4.9 million). (See Table 4.3.)

While white students still comprise a large majority of college students (11.1 million of 16.6 million in 2002), the trend is toward more racial and ethnic diversity on campuses. In 1976 white students made up 82.6% of higher education enrollment (nine million of a total enrollment of eleven million). In 2002, of the 16.6 million people attending college, whites accounted for 66.7% (11.1 million); blacks, 18.2% (two million); Hispanics, 10.2% (1.7 million); Asian or Pacific Islanders, 6.6% (1.1 million); and Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, 1.2% (166,000). (See Table 4.3.)

Between 1976 and 2002 the number of white students rose from 9.1 million to 11.1 million (22.7%) and the number of African-American students by 91.5% (from just over one million to just under two million). Other minority groups increased by even higher proportions: Native Americans/Alaskan Natives more than doubled (76,100 to 165,900), Hispanics more than quadrupled (383,800 to 1.7 million), and Asian/Pacific Islanders increased by 433% (197,900 to 1.1 million). Women increased enrollment by 81.3% between 1976 and 2002 (5.2 million to 9.4 million), compared with a 24.3% increase for men (5.8 million to 7.2 million). (See Table 4.3.)

Types of Degrees

Students can earn a variety of vocational certifications and college degrees. Associate degrees are usually awarded by junior colleges or community colleges after about two years of course work. Private institutions, as well as community and junior colleges, award vocational degrees. These degrees prepare people for specific jobs, such as court reporter, legal assistant, or computer programmer. Bachelor's degrees usually take a minimum of four years to complete. Private and public universities also award advanced master's, doctoral, or professional (doctor or lawyer) degrees.

HOWMANY?

At the end of the 2002–03 school year, a total of 632,912 associate degrees (497,132 from public institutions, and 135,780 from private institutions), 1.35 million bachelor's degrees, 512,645 master's degrees, and 46,024 doctoral degrees were awarded. (See Table 4.4.) A gender analysis of degrees conferred indicates

TABLE 4.3 Total fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions by race/ethnicity, sex, attendance status, and level of student, selected years, 1976–2002

TABLE 4.3 Total fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions by race/ethnicity, sex, attendance status, and level of student, selected years, 1976–2002 (CONTINUED)

TABLE 4.3 Total fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions by race/ethnicity, sex, attendance status, and level of student, selected years, 1976–2002 (CONTINUED) "Table 206. Total Fall Enrollment in Degree-Granting Institutions, by Race/Ethnicity, Sex, Attendance Status, and Level of Student: Selected Years, 1976 to 2002," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_206.asp (accessed January 10, 2006)

TABLE 4.4 Degrees conferred by public and private degree-granting institutions, by level of degree, and discipline division, 2002–03 "Table 255. Degrees Conferred by Degree-granting Institutions, by Control of Institution, Level of Degree, and Discipline Division: 2002–03," in Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_255.asp (accessed January 10, 2006)

that more women than men earned associate, bachelor"s, and master"s degrees, but more men than women earned doctoral degrees. According to the Digest of Education Statistics 2004, in 2002–03, 379,852 women earned associate"s degrees, compared with 253,060 men; 775,424 women earned bachelor"s degrees, compared with 573,079 men; 301,264 women earned master"s degrees, compared with 211,381 men; and 21,683 women earned doctoral degrees, compared with 24,341 men. The National Center for Education Statistics predicted that this trend will remain similar through 2014.

Despite the growth in enrollment, non-Hispanic black and Hispanic students were underrepresented in attaining college degrees. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics released as part of the Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, in the 2002–03 school year, for example, while African-American and Hispanic students made up 24.2% of the undergraduate student body (411,000 of 1.7 million), they earned only about 15.8% of all bachelor"s degrees for that year (213,271 of 1.3 million). Similarly, minorities were underrepresented at the master"s, doctoral, and first-professional degree levels.

Of the 1.35 million bachelor"s degrees conferred in the 2002–03 school year, 293,545 (21.8%) were for business, while 143,218 (10.6%) were awarded for social sciences, and 105,790 (7.8%) were for education. Computer and information sciences, virtually unknown a generation ago, accounted for 57,439 bachelor"s degrees (4.3%), which was more than the 53,670 degrees awarded for English language and literature (4%) but less than the 78,613 (5.8%) earned in psychology or the 71,474 (5.3%) conferred in visual and performing arts (Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/xls/tabn250.xls).