Hechinger Report: Number of Americans with college degrees growing more slowly than advocates want

Slow rate of growth threatens to leave a gap of 20 million degree-holders by 2025

I NDIANAPOLIS—Seven years after setting out to significantly increase the proportion of the population with degrees, the nation is making very slow progress, according to new figures.

The percentage of Americans who have earned college and university degrees rose from 40 percent to 40.4 percent last year toward a goal of 60 percent by 2025, the Lumina Foundation, which is backing the effort, announced at a conference here to update policymakers and advocates.

That’s up 2.4 percentage points since the goal was set in 2008. At this rate, the number of people with degrees by 2025 will fall 19.8 million short, Lumina estimates.