Summary
We support:
- Federally funded online GED programs to increase high school completion
- Incentives for individuals to obtain a high school diploma or equivalent
- Structuring certain public benefits to encourage completion of basic educational requirements
- Expanded vocational training programs coordinated with employers
- Employer incentives, including tax credits, to provide job training linked to employment
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Background
Even if the United States were to match the most successful countries in graduating students from four-year colleges and universities, a significant percentage of U.S. students will be left to find employment without a college or even a high school degree.
High School Dropouts
At the moment, about 31% of U.S. students don’t even get a high school degree with their cohort group. Roughly 60% of those who drop out get a high school degree or General Education Degree, GED, within eight years of their normal graduation age. This leaves about 13% of the potential workforce without the equivalent of a high school degree.
The degree of competence in reading, writing, and mathematics required for getting a high school degree or GED is absolutely essential to be employable in the modern world at anything other than minimum wage work.
In the event that those without a high school degree, or its equivalent, are lucky enough to find work that pays a decent wage, they will be vulnerable to losing it, and to becoming unemployable because they lack the necessary reading, writing, and math skills to allow them to be retrained for other work.
America already spends substantial funds on K–12 education, even in the worst funded school districts. The average per pupil expenditure is about $12,600. The range is from around $9,000 (Idaho) to around $29,000 (Washington, D.C.) (1) There is no reason why we should not be able to match the roughly 93% high school graduation rates of other countries like Belgium, Finland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.
The GED tests are available online (in most states) and in person and costs range from 0 to $40 per test for the 4 tests required. (2) Some states offer the HiSet exam rather than the GED for similar range of prices. (3)
Preparation materials for the GED are widely available online, in libraries, and through low-cost programs. For those lacking access or basic literacy skills, we support publicly funded preparation and adult literacy programs.
As an incentive to complete the GED, certain benefits—such as unemployment compensation and food assistance—could be structured as loans that are forgiven upon completion. Individuals who become employed before completing the GED would be granted a grace period to finish without penalty.
Individuals who do not complete a high school degree or GED could opt into a structured pathway that includes modified minimum wage protections designed to improve employability. Standard wage protections would be restored upon completion of the GED.
Such a program could quickly get the U.S. above the 90% level for high school graduation or a GED. This is especially true because so many of those on unemployment compensation lack a high school degree. The unemployment rate for high school dropouts is around 14%. This rate would be significantly higher were it not for the fact that 54% of this group does not even participate in the workforce as either employed or unemployed and looking for work.
This proposal may seem harsh to some. However, because free high school education and GED preparation would be widely available, we believe it is reasonable to expect individuals who are able to do so to take advantage of these opportunities as a condition of receiving certain public benefits. The goal is to increase employability among the long-term unemployed, either by improving skills or by creating pathways into the workforce.
Students Who Graduate High School but Do Not Want to Get a College Degree
As of 2019, 36% of the population over 25 had a bachelor’s degree or higher. About 58% of those who start college finish in six years. The group of those choosing not to finish college includes Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs, but it also includes a large number of people with higher unemployment and significantly lower compensation than their college graduate peers.
We believe that with improved efficiencies and lower costs in higher education, a significant number of this group would go on to get a college degree, perhaps raising the percentage with college degrees to 40%. This would still leave about 60% of the population with less than a college degree.
Some will succeed independently, but many will struggle to find stable, middle-class employment. As a society, we do very little to prepare these students for the workplace. We need to do more.
We would support re-instituting vocational education in high schools, with a focus on 21st-century jobs. To do this successfully, high schools will need to coordinate their programs with local employers. We need to bridge the gap between high school and on-the-job training.
For example, hospitals and extended care facilities hire substantial numbers of people with less than a college degree. Programs should be created that would result in a high school degree and some kind of professional health certification in a combined four or five year program. This would certainly be feasible for nursing aide training and a variety of other jobs for which some kind of professional certification would be useful to employers.
Post-Secondary Vocational Education and Training
The most effective form of vocational education is on the job training. Unfortunately, employers are often unwilling to hire and train inexperienced workers because they may move on after being trained or have to be compensated for staying.
We would propose giving employers who hire and train inexperienced workers a temporary waiver on the minimum wage. The program would only apply to workers who are new to the workforce or who have been unemployed for an extended period of time.
For-Profit Post-Secondary Vocational Education and Training
A significant amount of post-secondary vocational education and training is now being conducted by for-profit institutions. This education is often supported by Federal Pell Grants and Federal Student Loans. We do not oppose the use of this money for this purpose. However, consistent with our position on the regulation of consumer loans through clear disclosure, we believe that these institutions should be required to maintain data on students’ success rates in terms of employment and future compensation. We believe that students applying for these grants or loans should be presented with this information and information on the nature of their expected loan repayment obligations. With this information, we believe that prospective students would be able to make informed judgments about the value of taking on this debt.
We support the same kinds of disclosure for students receiving Pell Grants or federal student loans to attend non-profit institutions.
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