The Other American Exceptionalism

Higher Education  

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 The U.S. spends more on higher education than any other nation, yet many countries have surpassed the U.S. in college graduation rates. 

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The US has seen no increase in the % of its labor force with college degrees over the past decade while other nations have seen substantial increases.

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Among the rest of the OECD nations, younger age groups have higher levels of educational attainment that older age groups.

Compare this with a very similar trend in the case of high school graduates.

FROM: State of the Union address, 2011:
"America has fallen to ninth in the proportion of young people with a college degree.......  By the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. (Applause.)

Nine months later, new OECD data (above) showed the U.S. ranking 14th.

American college graduation rates are now about average among OECD nations --it will not be long before the educational attainment levels in shown in the two previous charts drops below the OECD median..

*The tertiary graduation rate indicator is measured by dividing the number of degrees issued in a given year by the the number of persons at the typical age of graduation (e.g. 22 year olds)

For students, the United States has the most expensive higher education system in the world. (The US also leads developed nations in terms of the  percent of students enrolled in even more expensive private institutions).  National Center for Education Statistics data (Statistical Abstract, 2009, table 282) indicates that the US public university (4-year college) tuition and fees were somewhat higher ($6,399) in 2006 than is shown here.

Several nations that in the past have not charged tuition for public institutions
are now beginning to do so --often this has led to students strikes and protests. 

The British government is currently proposing a law that would triple university tuition to $6,000 in 2012, although Scotland's universities have been, and may continue to be, free. Five of the 16 German Lander (states) now charge tuition at public institutions.

A very low proportion of graduate degrees in the US are in the science and technology fields (and even there, a high percentage of those go to foreign nationals)