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Do we even trust our leaders to help?
Retiring old ideas about retirement
Social Security more solvent than most Americans realize
Focus group participants discuss retirement
Series looks at middle-class angst
Insurance misery has no easy cure
Health-care matchup finds Ohio falls short
Most Read Stories
Akron police investigate teen mob attack on family
Man found hanging at playground in Stow
Family is proud of late son's gift
Man shot in back near Akron park
Robbery suspect's body left at Akron hospital
Varejao's $50 million deal isn't really $50 million
FBI asked to investigate attack on white family near Firestone Park
Woman, 75, charged with beating fawn to death
Blogs:
Pets:
Zeke, the basketball playing dog
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Dwayne Wade says no to Cleveland
Akron Zips:
Opponent outlook: Kent State
Browns Bulletin:
Quick thought on Browns rookies
Tribe Matters:
Now is no time to quit
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth test showed marijuana
Kent State Sports:
Men's Basketball Scheduling update
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Andy’s Signed According to ESPN
All Da King's Men:
Baby Got Barack !
Blog of Mass Destruction:
As California Goes?
Akron Law Café:
Why do public officials violate Ohio Ethics Laws?
Varsity Letters:
Report: Ontko selects Wisconsin
See Jane Style:
Oh Baby!
Car Chase:
Where do We Go from Here?
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Closings….Not the Good Kind!
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Margy inquires-when is a Taste of Hudson?
Sound Check:
LeVert II live performance Saturday night — "Dedication" album due July 13,
HRLite House:
DDI One of Best Places to Work
Akron Gamer:
Video game sales drop in May
Published on Sunday, Apr 13, 2008
TODAY'S STORY ABOUT THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION is the second installment in the Akron Beacon Journal's look this year at the pressures on the middle class.
The first installment appeared on March 16 and is available on the newspaper's Web site, http://www.ohio.com.
Others will appear throughout the year as we examine employment, housing, health care, retirement and the future of the diminishing middle class.
This project is an outgrowth of a study by David Knox, the Beacon Journal's specialist in computer research. In the first half of 2007, he participated in a Kiplinger Fellowship at Ohio State University, where he used the horsepower of university computers to analyze 51 million records spanning five decades of Census Bureau data, prepared by the University of Minnesota's Population Center.
In September 2007, the Beacon Journal published his findings, showing that successive generations of Americans are earning less than their parents.
The Web version of the story included an interactive database, allowing readers to compare their own incomes with national statistics. That project is available at http://www.ohio.com/hottopic/10675396.html.
After publication of that project, the Beacon Journal invited readers to participate in a series of focus groups, which were held in late October. The purpose was to listen to citizens discuss how they related to the trends in Knox's finding.
The seven sessions were facilitated by Alice Rodgers of Jemez Pueblo, N.M. Formerly a resident of Stark County, she facilitated many discussions for the newspaper over a 25-year period, including the Beacon Journal's examination of race relations in 1993, which resulted in the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Out of those focus groups arose the several topics that will be examined prior to the 2008 presidential election.
Knox and Beacon Journal columnist David Giffels are the reporters on this project. Photographer Ed Suba Jr. and artist Deborah Kauffman Barry prepared the photos, illustrations and graphics for today's installment.
— The editors
TODAY'S STORY ABOUT THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION is the second installment in the Akron Beacon Journal's look this year at the pressures on the middle class.
The first installment appeared on March 16 and is available on the newspaper's Web site, http://www.ohio.com.
Others will appear throughout the year as we examine employment, housing, health care, retirement and the future of the diminishing middle class.
This project is an outgrowth of a study by David Knox, the Beacon Journal's specialist in computer research. In the first half of 2007, he participated in a Kiplinger Fellowship at Ohio State University, where he used the horsepower of university computers to analyze 51 million records spanning five decades of Census Bureau data, prepared by the University of Minnesota's Population Center.
In September 2007, the Beacon Journal published his findings, showing that successive generations of Americans are earning less than their parents.
The Web version of the story included an interactive database, allowing readers to compare their own incomes with national statistics. That project is available at http://www.ohio.com/hottopic/10675396.html.
After publication of that project, the Beacon Journal invited readers to participate in a series of focus groups, which were held in late October. The purpose was to listen to citizens discuss how they related to the trends in Knox's finding.
The seven sessions were facilitated by Alice Rodgers of Jemez Pueblo, N.M. Formerly a resident of Stark County, she facilitated many discussions for the newspaper over a 25-year period, including the Beacon Journal's examination of race relations in 1993, which resulted in the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
Out of those focus groups arose the several topics that will be examined prior to the 2008 presidential election.
Knox and Beacon Journal columnist David Giffels are the reporters on this project. Photographer Ed Suba Jr. and artist Deborah Kauffman Barry prepared the photos, illustrations and graphics for today's installment.
— The editors

