As the economy struggles with a recession, competition for the jobs still available continues to increase. Higher education has always been an instant advantage on any resume. 

However, affording higher education — whether bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees or more — is becoming increasingly difficult. The Associated Press released the results of an independent report on American colleges today and all states, with the exception of California, flunked when it came to affordability.

States were measured on an A to F scale monitoring the performance of their public and private institutions. New York’s own SUNY system will continue to see cuts in funding; after an initial 7 percent cut in August by Gov. David Paterson, an additional $11.2 million was cut from the operating budget in an effort to further reduce the budget gap.

So with all these cuts to funding, money must be made elsewhere: In the form of tuition. Tuition spikes will undoubtedly hit hardest among lower- and middle-class families, who even after financial aid will find difficulties funding college. It has been estimated in the past few years that only about one of every 17 young people from the nation’s poorest families are expected to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24. Likewise, for wealthy families the odds are closer to one in two.

Overall, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 27 percent of Americans have a bachelor’s degree.

So in a society that all but demands college degrees from employees — but makes them more difficult financially to obtain — the vicious cycle continues. Families struggle to make ends meet to send their children to colleges that continue to hike tuition following budget cuts, so on and so forth.

In the end, the country is seeing an overall shift as the once blurry line between the haves and have-nots begins to sharpen, and a decrease in the number of those of the younger generation pursuing advanced degrees.