Schooling in a Slump

During the Great Depression, the high school graduation rate in the U.S. jumped from 30% to 50%, bringing on its heels an increase in skilled labor that helped save the economy.

Not surprisingly, the recession has sparked a similar phenomenon, but in higher education. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that the share of new high-school graduates enrolled in college rose to 70.1 percent last fall. That was up from 67.2 percent in 2007 and a new record. What's more, a 2009 study by the Pew Research Center found that the increase could be mostly attributed to community colleges, which tend to serve the very students who have been left behind in the past.

The problem is, college enrollment has actually been rising for the past few decades, with no such increase increase in actual graduations. Apparently, we're great at getting our kids to college, but we kinda suck at keeping them there.
Taylor Momse