College dropout crisis (and a solution?)

The American Dream 2.0 coalition published a report on U.S. college dropout crisis, revealing that 43% of all enrolled students do not graduate higher education institutions within six years. The numbers are even higher for some ethnic minority groups, such as, for example, the African American (63%) and Hispanic (58%) students. 

The authors of the report blame poor economic conditions - caused by the bad combination of growing tuition fees, declining state support and the more or less stable family income - for the high dropout rates. The American Dream 2.0 coalition is hoping to initiate a change in the U.S. educational system and, among other things, proposes the following actions that should be taken:

• Clearly explaining college costs, loan obligations and future career perspectives to students and their parents; 
• Increasing federal resources and focusing them on the neediest students, i.e. not only offering financial aid to low-income students, but also to those, who are underrepresented in higher education institutions (e.g. ethnic minorities);
• Linking financial aid to educational outcomes, and rewarding colleges and students that exceed expectations in that;
• Simplifying the process for applying for financial aid, especially the financial aid needs analysis;
• Making quality education affordable and flexible: e.g. colleges should provide the students with possibilities to complete courses by using different innovative solutions, which allow the "non-traditional" students graduate without attending classes (physically).

It is hard to predict the government's reaction to the financial aid proposals, but we could, at least, hope to see some discussions on the state contribution to higher education. The college dropout crisis is now on the table, let's see if anybody will be able, or brave enough, to tackle it.