MD GPI 1.0: The Value of Higher Education
Main_Content
What is a Higher Education?
“Higher education” generally refers to a non-compulsory education received
beyond high school from a college, university, community college, as well as a
graduate education or doctoral education in a particular career field. Once all
required coursework is completed, a degree, either associate’s, bachelor’s,
master’s, or doctorate’s, is awarded. Institutions may offer non-degree
certificates to indicate completion of a set of courses in a specific
discipline. Some institutions may also partner with a local public school system
to allow high school students to take college-level courses while still in high
school and earn college credit as well as credit towards the student’s high
school diploma. Accreditation agencies ensure that colleges and universities of
a certain type are offering and maintaining similar high-quality standards.
Why is Higher Education Important?
A highly-educated workforce is one of Maryland’s greatest assets. With local,
state and national economies becoming ever more interconnected, it becomes
increasingly necessary for employees to have the knowledge and skills to respond
to the ever-changing needs of the global marketplace. A higher education not
only provides an individual with the appropriate knowledge and skills, but
acquaints them with students from diverse backgrounds with diverse ideas and
perspectives that will also be beneficial in their careers.
How has Higher Education Changed Over the Years?
Higher education has become an industry itself. The advent and popularity of
the Internet has given rise to for-profit companies offering entirely online
degrees. In these programs students do not have to travel to a campus and sit in
a lecture hall for class, but can watch lectures on their home computers and
submit assignments by email.
Increasingly, institutions that formerly called themselves “colleges” and
focused on a certain academic discipline, are diversifying their course
offerings to attract more students interested in studying different subjects.
Thus, a few institutions in Maryland have changed their names to “university” to
reflect this new mission.
With the movement towards offering courses and degrees online and towards
offering a larger variety of areas of study, the cost of a higher education
became more affordable for the average person. For many years, a college
education was something reserved for the gifted or those from wealthy families.
Today, higher education institutions offer admission to individuals from all
demographic groups as long as they meet certain pre-established academic
standards. As a result, more programs offering financial assistance to certain
students have been implemented by the institutions, as well as by the federal
and state governments.
Methodology & Data Sources
Higher Education Data
Education attainment data for Maryland could only be found for years after
1980. Trends before that are assumed to be the same as 1980 to 1990. Maryland
population over 25 was not available for each year from statistical abstracts,
but from several national data points the ratio of those over 25 was
applied.
Higher Education Value
The social benefits of higher education value of $16,000 was adopted from the
national Genuine Program Indicator (GPI) report.
Equation
(Maryland Residents 25 years or older with a bachelor’s degree) Multiplied by
$16,000
