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Costs for college rising faster than income, study shows Thursday, Sep 7, 2006 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau FAYETTEVILLE - The cost of a college education in Arkansas and 42 other states is rising faster than per capita income, according to results of a study by a non-profit higher education group released Wednesday. This rise is particularly hard on Arkansas students from low-income households, the San Jose, Calif.-based National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education reported a day after Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Beebe proposed setting aside state scholarships for students from low-income households. The group's National Report Card on Higher Education is released every two years. The group found that Arkansas had low but improving scores in every area the group assessed except for affordability, giving the state an "F" in that category. The state has made no significant progress in making a college education more affordable since 1992, the report said. Arkansas undergraduates are borrowing an average of $3,270 a year to go to college, compared to $2,629 in 1992, the study found. Net college costs for low and middle-income students to attend public four-year colleges and universities in Arkansas represents nearly 36 percent of Arkansans' annual family income, according to the study. The group's report said in part: "Arkansas' investment in need-based financial aid is very low, and the state offers no low-tuition college opportunities." On Tuesday, Beebe proposed an $11 million scholarship program for low-income students. The response by Asa Hutchinson, Beebe's Republican opponent, included an expression of surprise that Beebe would propose an entirely new program that "duplicates" existing federal programs, like Pell Grants, and "steers precious taxpayer dollars from the state scholarships that we have." Beebe said Wednesday that the study "points out we're on the right track" by proposing the needs-based scholarship and the proposed $8 million increase for "career pathways" scholarships to two-year colleges for working adults. "One of the problems we've got in Arkansas is that, as tuition rises, the affordability issue rises more and more to the surface," Beebe said. David Kinkade, spokesman for Hutchinson's campaign, said the report underscored what he said was Beebe's failure to lead on higher education issues during 20 years in the state Senate. "The report says that, over the last 14 years, the state has made no progress in making college more affordable for Arkansas students. Mike Beebe was in the Senate for 10 of those years. Why didn't he do something when he had the chance?" Kinkade said. The chances that an Arkansas high school student will enroll in college by age 19 has increased by 18 percent, the study found, one of the steepest increases among the states on this statistic, according to the report. "Although the state's improvement on this measure over the last decade is among the largest in the nation, the state's current performance on this measure remains very poor when compared with other states," the study said. For example, fewer than one in six - 16 percent - of the Arkansas students who enroll in college complete their courses and attain degrees, according to the study. Arkansas received a "D-plus" in the "preparation" category. The report said, in part: "Despite substantial improvement, high school students in Arkansas are poorly prepared for college when compared with students in other states." Sixteen percent of Arkansas eighth graders took algebra in 2006, the study said, compared to the standard of 35 percent the study recommended. However, Arkansas showed considerable improvement over the 3 percent taking algebra in 1992, the study said. ------ On the Net: http://www.highereducation.org/index.shtml |
