The President's emphasis on education in his Osawatomie Speech frankly means that free or highly subsidizedr subsidized higher education should be an explict part, not just phrasemaking in the domestic policy agenda.

Since the great leaps forward in education in the 1960's and 1970's, many barriers to both access to and completion of higher ed have arisen and most are consequences of as sustained atttack by Republicans on what used to be a bi-partisan consensus for a well-established role for government.  

Despite these attacks and the consequent rise of education costs above what working class families can afford, there have been some recent accomplishments that perhaps have not gotten enough recognition, outside of conservatives who are actively hacking away at it.  Namely, the increase in Pell grants.

Around 10 million undergrads get help from Pells these days, and the maximum grant was recently raised to $5,550.  The figures below show a) the increase in Pell spending and b) the increase in the share of undergrads with Pell grants.

Source: Dept of Ed, (hattip: KM)

Jared Bernstein offers some comments on these numbers: "Importantly, according to the Dept of Ed, about 40% of the increased expenditures in the top figure is cyclical, i.e., due to the increase in college attendance that you expect to see in recession, as job opportunities become scarce.  The rest would then be attributable to increased eligibility and higher grants."

This shows the administrations efforts in the face of the bleating ignoramuses chorus from the "the-world's-going-to-end-who-needs-to-read-anything-but-the-Bible" factions. Plus college tuitions have gone up too, almost as fast as health care, while incomes for most families have fallen in real terms. 

As Kelsey Merrick has written:  “…expansions to the Pell Grant program successfully shielded low- and moderate-income students from tuition increases in 2010.  But the maximum award currently covers only 10 percent to 15 percent of the average costs of a four-year college.”

Pell grants will not by themselves overcome all the barriers kids from less advantaged families face in accessing and completing college,though they help.  So why is the right wing gunning for the program?

Basically, because it’s increasing and any government spending outside of defense  is automatically guilty without a trial, even though the trend is expected to flatten out soon.

Jared Bernstein writes: "The appropriations bill just negotiated cuts the number of Pell-eligible semesters from 18 to 12, thereby generally limiting grants to six years.  It also reduces the family income level at which students would be automatically eligible for the grant from $30K to $23K (though higher income families can get grants depending on their means and the cost of their school)."

It’s not unreasonable to limit semesters of Pell but given that the six-year college completion rate is down to about 50%, the trends are very worrisome.

Here are immediate remedies that should be incorporated into the President's program:

1. support for programs that smooth the transition from 2-4 year colleges

2. protect Pell grants for families in the bottom half of the income scale

3. a federal countercyclical policy that automatically holds down tuition increases at public colleges in recession.

But producing a 21st century workforce that can lift the next generation higher requires more than short term remedies. Markets appear to place no cost on the failure to provide for the young and the unborn -- even less than  hot-air charlatans gasping about unborn rights in the abortion debates. But the cost is vast. I do not agree with Paul Krugman and some others, by the way, who claim there is no "structural" crisis in the workforce. The mismatch of skills and the opportunities and requirements of the future is vast and and still growing. An entire industrial paradigm that planned for the future from the New Deal/WWII  era has been crushed by the Reaganite financialization binge---and there is currently nothing in its place.

On education and youth, Mr President -- the time for action is NOW.