By Troy Miller, Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst, Florida College Access Network

This week, the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project released a report outlining several national degree attainment trends1. According to the authors, levels of bachelor’s degree completion rates have never been higher for young adults aged 25 to 29. After stalling during the early 2000s, the share of young adults with 4-year degrees has risen over five percentage points, from 28.4% to 33.5%. Is this national trend also taking place in Florida?

Unfortunately, it is not.  As I’ve written about before, degree attainment rates are an incredibly complex metric to discuss, as they are subject to a number of different circumstances and influences.  College and high school enrollments, college and high school completion rates, migration patterns, the economy and even the way the rates themselves are measured are just a few examples of variables that are in play when looking at the rate of college attainment among different age cohorts2.

While, the Pew Research Center’s report did not include a state-by-state breakdown of degree attainment, by looking at other available data we can get a sense of where Florida stands on these measures. The chart below displays the bachelor’s degree attainment rate throughout the working-age adult population in Florida.  While the attainment gap between younger and older generations appears to be closing in Florida, the overall rate of degree attainment among young adults has been flat since 2005.

Table 1: Share Completing a Bachelor’s Degree or More in Florida

Year

25-34

35-44

45-64

Difference 25-34 minus 45-64

2011

26.1%

28.4%

26.4%

-0.3%

2010

26.3%

27.9%

27.3%

-1.0%

2009

25.3%

27.8%

26.7%

-1.4%

2008

25.0%

27.8%

27.8%

-2.8%

2007

25.7%

27.6%

28.0%

-2.3%

2006

24.9%

27.0%

27.4%

-2.5%

2005

26.0%

26.8%

27.0%

-1.0%

Notes: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, Florida College Access Network. This data source does not allow to users to create their own age range cohorts, which is why the Florida chart is different from the national one.

Another trend we can see taking place is that the college attainment gap between young adults in Florida and the rest of the nation appears to be widening.  In 2005, the United States stood just under three percentage points higher than Florida, a gap that has since doubled to over six.  How might this be explained?  The answer is much too complex to be wrapped up in a sentence or even a blog post, but what we do know is that this is a critical issue for our state.

How do you think the educational profile of our young adults impacts our state?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

~Follow Troy Miller on twitter @TroyMillerFCAN

1The Pew Research Center defined college completion/degree attainment as person’s holding at least a bachelor’s degree. The Florida College Access Network defines college as including all high quality postsecondary credentials and uses this definition when performing our own analysis and meeting statewide college attainment goals for working-aged adults.

2Education historian Sherman Dorn commented on his blog about the validity and meaningfulness of the Pew Report. Check it out here, it’s a great read!



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