US Lags in Degrees - NY Times

This article came out last month in the New York Time, discussing the number of college degrees held by US residents in the 25-34 year age range.  Where the US was once the leader in this category, it is now 12th out of 36 developed nations.   Canada now leads this pack. 

A great deal of time and money goes into recruiting students for colleges and universities, but what the students actually do once they get there matters too.  Completion rates for 4-year and 2-year schools look something like this:

While almost 70 percent of high school graduates in the United States enroll in college within two years of graduating, only about 57 percent of students who enroll in a bachelor’s degree program graduate within six years, and fewer than 25 percent of students who begin at a community college graduate with an associate’s degree within three years.

And apparently, a Bachelor's degree is still much more likely to belong to a wealthier person:

And students from the highest income families are almost eight times as likely as those from the lowest income families to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24.

 For me, this brings up the issue of how important it is for a student to find the right fit for them when selecting a college or university to attend.  The right fit is going to make it much more likely that they will stay at the school and complete their degree.  If community college is the preferred route, it makes clear that having a plan in place for an Associates degree as well as the ability to matriculate to a 4-year institution is important.  I can also see how important it is for schools to support students all along the way so that attending college isn't something for only the privileged students.