WASHINGTON—Degree attainment rates are on the rise nationally, but not at the pace needed for greater economy parity among minority groups.
This was one of the key issues that Jamie Merisotis, president of the Lumina Foundation for Education, stressed recently following the release of the report, “A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education: Visualizing Data To Help Us Achieve A Big Goal For College Attainment.”
Speaking at the National Press Club, Merisotis emphasized the need to increase degree attainment among low-income, first-generation, minority and adult student populations because they represent “the future of our country in its truest sense.”
“Our collective well-being rests on being able to do dramatically better for those groups, and our failure to do better for those groups will come at our collective peril,” he said.
The “Stronger Nation” report is the foundation’s fourth annual report that tracks progress toward the foundation’s Goal 2025, which is to have 60 percent of Americans hold “high-quality degrees, certificates or other postsecondary credentials” by the year 2025.
This year’s report contains metro level data on degree attainment rates for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.
