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PENNSYLVANIANS VIEW HIGHER
EDUCATION AS
ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS
San Jose and New York -- Pennsylvanians believe that higher education
is vitally important for success in today's high-paced world, according to a public
opinion survey focusing on the views of Pennsylvanians about education and training
beyond high school.
The survey, prepared by Public Agenda and released today by the National Center
for Public Policy and Higher Education, finds that a towering 89% of people in Pennsylvania
believe that "a college degree has become as important as a high school diploma
used to be." And nearly three out of four (73%) think that there cannot be too
many people with education and training beyond high school.
This strong agreement among Pennsylvania residents about the importance of higher
education mirrors the views of the nation at large, according to John Immerwahr,
author of the report.
"The attitudes of Pennsylvanians regarding higher education are strikingly
similar to the views of the nation as a whole," writes Immerwahr, Senior Research
Fellow at Public Agenda and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Villanova
University. "Access to higher education has become equivalent to the American
dream."
"There's been a ratcheting up of what's needed to succeed in this economy,"
said Patrick Callan, President of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher
Education. "People now see that education beyond high school is crucial for
enabling people to navigate this new world."
Like Americans generally, Pennsylvanians view the benefits of a college education
as more than a degree. When presented with a list of goals for students in higher
education, Pennsylvanians selected gaining "a sense of maturity" and learning
how to "manage on their own" (72%) as most important. An equally high percentage
(70%) said it is absolutely essential for students to learn how to get along with
people different than themselves.
Other skills rated almost as highly -- among Pennsylvanians and the nation as
a whole -- include learning to solve problems and think analytically, learning specific
knowledge in a career, learning high-tech skills, and gaining top-notch writing and
speaking skills.
But there are also a few areas where the attitudes of Pennsylvanians differ somewhat
from those of the nation, according to the report.
For example, Pennsylvanians are more likely than the nation generally to support
making more money available to students through loans.
Funding for the survey and report, called Great Expectations: How Pennsylvanians View Higher Education,
was provided by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The findings are
based on a telephone survey of 510 randomly selected adults who reside in Pennsylvania.
The margin of error for the survey is +/– 4 percentage points.
This report complements a broader national telephone survey of 1,015 adults, the
findings of which were reported last week in Great Expectations: How the Public and Parents -- White, African
American and Hispanic -- View Higher Education.
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education promotes public policies
that enhance Americans' opportunities for education and training beyond high school.
Public Agenda regularly reports on public attitudes about major policy issues.
Both reports -- the national and Pennsylvania findings -- are available at www.highereducation.org.
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