As a new class of students begins their first days in higher education, the northwest Ohio city on the Maumee River will be an important test of whether cash-strapped higher education can translate soaring college enrollments into the new generation of highly skilled, college-educated workers needed to promote prosperity and civic engagement.

Will the almost doubled number of students in just ten years make it to graduation day? According to the new Brookings Institution report, The State of Metropolitan America, a stunning 60 percent of 18- to 24-year-old Toledo residents were enrolled in higher education in 2008. However, we know that nearly half of first-time, full-time students nationwide drop out. This represents lost time and money for both colleges and students.

The United States is a leader in higher education spending, but ranks only 10th among developed nations in its proportion of younger adults ages 25 to 34 with college degrees. The U.S. is simply not getting enough value out of the money it spends. Ever-rising tuition and fees are not yielding enough degree holders, and graduating insufficient numbers of people will drastically impair the nation’s ability to maintain a strong economy.

The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce reports that the U.S. economy will create 22 million new jobs by 2018 for workers with a college education, but the nation is projected to fall 3 million workers short of people with at least an associate’s degree and an additional 4.7 million workers short when demand for people with some kind of meaningful credential beyond a high school diploma is factored in. “This shortfall will mean lost economic opportunity for millions of American workers,” according to the center, which is run by well-known labor economist Tony Carnevale.

more.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-conklin/for-the-future-of-higher_b_708722.html