College for All? Yeah, Right.....

So....all of Oklahoma's high school students must now take a college preparatory curriculum, and pass a number of high-stakes tests, before being permitted to graduate from high school.

But will they really be able to go to college? The statistics say....it's unlikely.

A new report from UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute was released this week, profiling American college freshmen over the last 40 years.

If we really mean that "all students should be college-ready," shouldn't we make it possible for all students to go to college?

Just one short clip from the report:

...today’s freshmen are the most well-off since at least 35 years ago — with median incomes 60 percent above the national average, as compared to 46 percent above average in 1971. The report also highlighted a difference between public and private incoming freshmen: the income of families sending students to public institutions is rising faster than that for students at private colleges.

Income Gap Between National Average and Median Parental Income of Freshmen (2006 Dollars)

Type of Institution	1971	2005
Public	$17,800	$25,600
Private	$27,300	$35,700

Meanwhile, two developments in students’ attitudes toward life provide either contradictory or nuanced responses — depending on one’s point of view — about financial goals and altruism. Being well-off is students’ number-two priority (73.4 percent) — second only to raising a family — but helping others comes in third, the highest it’s been as a priority in 20 years.