A Stronger Nation through Higher Education

In 2007, 37.7 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 64 held a two- or four-year college degree. For 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, the number is 37.9 percent.While the proportion of Americans with college degrees increased between 2007 and 2008, the level of increase is not nearly enough to reach the Lumina Foundation's Big Goal. If the rate of increase over the past eight years continues, the U.S. will reach a higher education attainment level of only 46.6 percent by 2025, and the shortfall in college graduates will be just under 23 million.