The Great Recession proved that a college degree is the ticket to financial success — or even merely survival.

Consider this: Workers with some college education lost 1.8 million jobs during the recession and, even with a slow recovery, have regained 1.6 million of those. At the same time, workers with no better than a high school diploma lost 5.6 million jobs during the recession — and they’re still losing them.

Four of every five jobs lost to the recession were held by workers with a high school education or less. This underscores grave problems:

First, that this is the wrong time to underfund higher education. President Obama sees that. Campaigning on campuses last week, he reminded voters he increased Pell grants while his opponent lacks a clear plan.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, says federal aid encourages tuition hikes and believes there should be fewer grants, not more. His running mate authored the GOP budget plan that calls for across-the-board education cuts — including tighter eligibility for student aid.

It also amplifies the urgency to fix funding for higher education in New Jersey.

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