The U.S. is falling behind in the number of college graduates compared to countries around the world, according to the New York Times.  As the article discusses, enrollment is not necessarily the issue.  Students are enrolling in colleges across the country but not so many are sticking with it to completion.  As stated, other contributing factors are the cost of college tuition and the current state of K-12 education in general. 

So what's the nation to do about it?  This trend is concerning if we want to remain competitive in the global economy.  Higher education is a necessity to many high-market fields.  Certainly the first step to remedying the problem is to identify the causes.  If follow-through, cost, and K-12 education are the issues, the solutions must resolve those.  Initially, we must identify what it is about the K-12 programs that causes students to not complete or begin their degrees. 

Cost is another limiting factor in this equation.  If students and parents cannot see the future financial benefits, with some measure of security for the return on their investment, they are not going to take the risk.  Is the extreme cost involved with quality higher education a result of inflation or does it accurately represent the true cost of the services recieved?  I'm not sure that education should be run like a business by trying to get rich off of their clients.  As for the follow-through, the first year of college is tough but years 2-4 aren't much easier.  Parents need to encourage their students to stick with it without providing them with excuses for why they shouldn't complete what's been started.   

The college gap won't be an easy one to close, especially given the state of our economy and jobless rates but those things, too, are impacted by what happens at the college level.