Public Policy

State Capacity for Higher Education Policy

"The Need for State Policy Leadership"

This article discusses the strong and escalating need for new public policies on America's education programs due to the fact that the number of Americans being educated is slowly deteriorating. America's claim to fame has always been the education of its people therefore resulting in a healthy economy, top-of-the-line technology and an unsurpassed country as a whole. Our number one spot however is slowly slipping out of grasp due to changes globally, funding problems, government changes and the appalling truth that a lot of people are opting not to further their education. In the long-term perspective, this could result in a bleak future for our nation. Economy and technology will suffer as result and America's envy factor to other nations will decrease in value. In order to fix the impeding problem, the government is proposing a state policy that is aiming to raise the educational attainment to the people. To reach this goal, the government is looking to each individual state to come up with their own education policy agenda because they are the decision-making entities historically in charge of creating higher education policies.

Increasing educational attainment is the biggest challenge. Globally, many countries have surpassed the U.S. in higher education access and degree attainment. Also, many foreign graduate students are choosing to return to their country of origin, which leaves us weak doctoral programs. The baby-boomers are another group who have had a huge impact educationally. They are "the best educated generation in our history," and are beginning to leave the workforce. But out of these, possibly the worst news is that the educational attainment of young Americans is declining. In fifteen years, if something isn't done to