Many college seniors weak in quantitative literacy

Twenty percent of U.S. college students completing 4-year degrees—and 30 percent of students earning 2-year degrees—have only basic quantitative literacy skills, meaning they are unable to estimate if their car has enough gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies, according to a new national survey by the American Institutes for Research that was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. However, the survey found that the scores for quantitative literacy were not lower than those of previous graduates, and that the students surveyed had higher prose and document literacy than previous graduates with similar levels of education.