Lack of diploma is costly

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May 2, 2006

By Hank M. BOUNDS / guest columnist The Meridian Star Tue May 02, 2006, 10:22 PM CDT

As we continue our discussion on the cost of dropping out of school, it is important to look at the literal cost that an individual must bear when he drops out.

There is also an economic impact felt at both the state and national level. We all know that students who don’t graduate earn less than those who do. We also know that the gap in income and employability increases exponentially between a high school dropout and a college graduate. But when you put a pencil to it, you can see just how high a price we all pay when a student drops out of school.

According to the National Dropout Prevention Center, only 40 percent of adults who dropped out of high school are employed, compared to 60 percent of adults who completed high school and 80 percent of those that have a bachelor’s degree.

Earnings also drop dramatically for those without a diploma. In 2002, the Employment Policy Foundation found that high school graduates, on average, earn $9,245 more per year than high school dropouts. In fact average earnings across all educational levels look like this:

n High School Dropout $19,095

n High School Graduate $25,081

n Some College, No Degree $29,903

n Associate’s Degree $31,358

n Bachelor’s Degree $41,361

n Master’s Degree $50,704

n Professional Degree $76,659

n Doctor’s Degree $71,541

Source: Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, Table 387

A report released in March by the Alliance for Excellent Education noted Princeton University researcher Cecilia Rouse’s findings that the lifetime difference in income between a high school graduate and a dropout is approximately $260,000. The report also concluded that the lost lifetime earnings of students in Mississippi who did not graduate with their class in 2004 is approximately $4,300,920,000.

Lost wages for the individual means lost tax revenue at the local, state and national level. The National Center for Dropout Prevention reports that each year’s class of dropouts will cost the country over $200 billion during their lifetimes in lost earnings and unrealized tax revenue.

The state must also bear additional costs in terms of assistance to families and children. Teen girls in the bottom 20 percent of basic reading and math skills are five times more likely to become mothers over a two-year high school period than teen girls in the top 20 percent. Male and female students with low academic achievement are twice as likely to become parents by their senior year of high school compared to students with high academic achievement.

Dropping out of school and earning low wages becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Students from low-income families have a dropout rate of 10 percent, students from middle-income families have a dropout rate of 5.2 percent and only 1.6 percent of students from high-income families drop out of school, according to the National Dropout Prevention Center.

Dropping out often leads to desperation, which often leads to crime. Crime takes it toll in many ways on a community and on a state. When people don’t feel safe, they move elsewhere. Again, tax revenue drops. In addition, the taxpayers must bear the cost of incarceration. According to the National Dropout Prevention Center, 75 percent of America’s state prison inmates are high school dropouts and 59 percent of America’s federal prison inmates did not complete high school. But they also found that, for juveniles involved in quality reading instruction programs while in prison, recidivism was reduced by 20 percent or more. So there is hope.

The Alliance for Excellent Education reported in 2003 that employment projections indicate that jobs requiring only a high school degree will grow just 9 percent by the year 2008, while those requiring a bachelor’s degree will grow 25 percent and those requiring an associate’s degree will grow 31 percent.

This is the job market our students today will be facing. We must prepare them for it — not just so they can enjoy a more productive and secure future but so that Mississippi and all Mississippians can enjoy a brighter future.

Dr. Hank M. Bounds is

Mississippi’s superintendent

of education.

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