The benefits of a post-secondary degree are plentiful. For
example, an employee with a four year college degree earns 60
percent more than a worker with only a high school diploma.
Paying for college, however, has become a daunting task and
strain for many American students and families. The cost of
higher education across the country is rapidly increasing, at
almost double the rate of inflation, outpacing increases in
financial aid and many families ability to pay. The combination
of these factors result in too many students being unable to
earn or complete their degrees due to financial constraints. By
one estimate, the federal government spent over $367 billion in
2005 aloneon subsidizing Americans' retirement savings and tax
breaks to build upother assets like buying a home.
Unfortunately, those subsidies gooverwhelmingly to those
Americans who already have high-incomes; almostnone of it goes
to the poorest Americans who need the most helpbuilding the
financial assets that can lead to long-term economicop