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The economic crisis is having an adverse effect on enrollment at four year colleges and universities. Most four year institutions are reporting record low enrollments. While things are spiraling downward at many four year colleges and universities, business is booming at two year technical schools and community colleges. Seemingly, this ought to be good news for two year institutions. Unfortunately, statewide funding cuts and faculty shortages are making it difficult for community colleges and technical schools to accommodate burgeoning enrollment.

The rising enrollment at community colleges can almost exclusively be attributed to the current cost of attending 4 year colleges and universities. The cost differential between attending four year institutions and community college is stunning. For example, tuition at Miami Dade Community College, the largest community college in the US, is $1,000 per semester for Florida residents. In marked contrast, tuition at the University of Florida—a public institution— is roughly $5,000 per year and a whopping $42,000 at the University of Miami which is private.

Undergraduates are flocking to community colleges simply because many can’t afford to pay tuition for 4 or more years at most colleges and universities. The new paradigm for undergraduate education is to complete the first two years of college at a community college and then transfer to a 4 year college to finish a degree. Unlike other post secondary education institutions, there are no entry requirements at community colleges—open enrollment is the norm. This means that these schools are obliged to allow anybody with a high school diploma or GED to register for classes. In marked contrast, four year colleges and universities can regulate the size of their incoming freshman classes to deal with financial difficulties. For example, because of budget cuts in Florida, the state's 11 public universities have imposed caps on freshman enrollment. This has put increasing pressure on community colleges in Florida and other stacks to “pick up the enrollment slack.”

While attending community college may be an economical way for students to earn undergraduate degrees, two year colleges have been overwhelmed by the massive enrollment increases. "As it stands right now, we have almost 39,000 students registered for the fall term, and we began fall registration only two weeks ago," says Dulce Beltran, registrar at Miami Dade College. "And a quarter of the courses are already closed with almost two months to go before fall term begins." Not surprisingly, Miami Dade officials say that enrollment is 60 per cent higher than last year’s pace. School officials have been hiring new instructors and adding new courses to handle the enrollment surge.

Unfortunately, school officials estimate that 20,000 to 30,000 students won't get all the classes they need; 5,000 may not be able to sign up for any classes in the fall. Similar scenarios are playing out in other states including Arizona, California, Washington and others. Officials in those states are fearful that hundreds of thousands of prospective new students will be turned away this year.

There is no question that the recession is taking a toll on the ability of American students to attend college. However, the cost of an undergraduate education has been steadily increasing for the past decade. Rising overhead costs, higher faculty salaries and over expansion have all contributed to the increases. Something will have to give soon. Don’t be surprised if the education bubble is the next one to burst!

Hat tip to NPR!

Until next time....

Good Luck and Good Learning!!!!!!!

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I read today in the New York Times that healthcare costs are expect to ease slightly in 2009 for employers. According to Mercer, a healthcare consulting firm, healthcare benefit costs are expected to rise only 5.7% in 2009. Since 2005, annual increases in healthcare spending have hovered around 6.1%.

At first glance, this ought to be good news for the millions of workers employed by American companies. But, like most other reports and survey conducted during the disastrous Bush Administration, the numbers don’t tell the real story. In reality, employers are aggressively shifting the healthcare burden to employees by raising premiums and pushing deductibles and co-payments to all time record highs. For example, I learned the other day that my good friend Pete, who works as recruiter in the hospitality business, has to pay $50 each time he or any member of his family (he has 5 children) goes to the doctor. Unlike other people who have less onerous co-pays, Pete has to pick and choose which family aliments really require medical attention. These decisions must be extremely difficult and stressful for Pete, who had prostate cancer surgery less than a year ago.

Regardless of your political persuasions, it is obvious to me that healthcare reform is long overdue in the US. I hope that Barack Obama begins to address this ongoing, serious problem shortly after he is elected President in November, 2009.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!

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Unlike many other countries with national healthcare systems, US healthcare and prescription drug costs are primarily shouldered by employers. As healthcare costs continue to rise, many American employers are calling for the US government to assume more of the costs through nationalized healthcare. The opposite situation is unfolding in the rest of the world, where overburdened nationalized healthcare systems are forcing employers to pay for workers supplemental health care costs.

A recent survey conducted by Watson Wyatt found that in countries like India, China and Russia healthcare is the number 1 benefit desired by a majority of workers. Globally, companies are projecting large year-to-year increases in medical and healthcare costs. In many places, medical and healthcare costs are rising faster than inflation.

Contrary, to popular belief, it appears that the US is not the only country struggling with skyrocketing healthcare and prescription drug costs. The graph below shows the expected increases in national healthcare costs from 2007 to 2008 (source Watson Wyatt).

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Health care spending in the United States grew 6.7 percent in 2006 to $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per person. This represents a slight increase over the 6.5 percent rate in 2005 (which was the slowest growth since 1999). Health spending accounted for 16 percent of US gross domestic product in 2006, outpacing overall nominal GDP growth by 0.6 percent. However, total health care spending in the US is not the real story here.

The federal government reported that the new Medicare drug benefit called Part D, which was implemented in early 2006, contributed to an 18.7 percent increase in Medicare spending that year, the fastest rate of growth since 1981 and double the rise in 2005.  In 2006, Medicare spending rose to $401.3 billion, up from $338.0 billion a year earlier, according to the government’s annual health spending report.

The impact on funding sources that paid for prescription drug benefits varied. The public share of spending (federal and state)  increased from 28 percent in 2005 to 34 percent in 2006, while funding from private sources (insurers) fell from 72 percent to 66 percent.  The shift in funding was most dramatic for Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare’s share of total retail prescription drug spending surged from just 2 percent in 2005 to 18 percent in 2006, following Part D implementation. Meanwhile, Medicaid’s share fell from 19 percent to 9 percent.

At present, the US government cannot negotiate prescription drug pricing with drug companies that produce the medications–only drug distributors and third party insurers can do that! As the baby boomer retirement continues, the amount of government spending on prescriptions drugs will increase exponentially and ultimately cause healthcare costs in this country to explode. In my opinion there are two options: impose price controls on prescription drugs or provide all US citizens with a national healthcare system that allows the government to negotiate drug pricing directly with drug manufacturers. And for those of you who think national healthcare is a fantasy–over 60% of all healthcare claims in the US are currently handled and paid by Medicare–a federally finaced and run government healthcare system!  We are closer to a national health insurance program than you think!

Until next time...

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

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