Not Just Kid Stuff Anymore: The Economic Imperative for More Adults to Complete College

A brief by CLASP and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems finds that  just as our economy is demanding more workers that have some postsecondary education or training, our traditional source of such workers – high school graduates – is leveling off.

Some states will even see the number of high school graduates decline by as much as 18 to 20 percent. At the same time, nearly two-thirds of jobs in 2018 will require some postsecondary. The report includes state-by-state projections of number of high school graduates through 2020, as well as policy implications of a changing college population and the need for more adults to access postsecondary education.

Already, nontraditional students are a significant percent of the college population. Today's students are older, more diverse, and have more work and family obligations than what most people - and policymakers - think of when they envision the typical college student.