The high cost of not investing in U.S. colleges - Dave Marcotte, Baltimore Sun

Unless we want students to pay a larger and larger share of their education and many to get less for it, we cannot circumvent the need to increase the level of public subsidy for higher education. And we need to go beyond means-tested strategies like Pell Grants to achieve this end. Public higher education has historically been a springboard of opportunity to the children of the middle class. Indeed, the foundation of the American Century was laid by a massive investment in secondary education. Nearly three quarters of children born at the dawn of the 20th Century didn't start high school. By mid-century, more than three quarters finished high school. In this century, it is starting and finishing college that is the sine qua non for the welfare of young Americans and integral for the nation's economic growth. While recent developments help clarify the costs of investing in college for prospective students, it is not at all clear if we as a nation understand the costs of not investing in public colleges and universities. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-college-costs-20151118-story.html