Chansonette Hall (senior-international politics) was born in America but grew up in West Africa. Though she felt prepared for college, Hall said she was shocked to find that "you can get through the educational system without knowing how to spell or write."

In a recent study conducted by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), researchers discovered the literacy rate among college graduates has declined over the past decade.

The results of the first national literacy assessment since 1992 were based on a sample of 19,000 people age 16 and older who were interviewed, some in their homes and some in prisons. NAAL used three categories to define adult literacy: prose, documents and analyses of quantitative assessment.

Prose is defined as reading material assembled in sentences and paragraphs, such as a newspaper article. Documents -- like bus schedules, bills and maps -- are not arranged in sentences. Quantitative activities require simple calculations using numbers found in text, such as comparing and computing the cost per ounce of food items.

The assessment based all scores on a 500-point scale, ranging from below basic to basic, intermediate and proficient.

The proficiency level of prose among college graduates dropped from 40 to 31 percent, and their proficiency level of document literacy dropped from 37 to 25 percent. The proficiency level of quantitative literacy stayed the same.

Mike Bowler, director of Outreach and Communications for the Institute of Educational Sciences, worked on the statistical side of this assessment.

"The findings were rather a surprise to us," Bowler said. "The answer is that we don't know for sure [why the numbers have dropped], and we'd like to see studies done to find that out."

However, Hall said she was not surprised by the study's findings, adding that professors in the past have told her that the level of course work turned in has gone down over the years.

Although there is no definitive answer, some educators have hypotheses, which seem to bolster the study's findings.

Assistant education professor Esther Prins said she thinks it has something to do with the education students receive prior to the collegiate level.

"Investment in public education is catching up with us," she said. "It reflects the decline in public K [through] 12 education."

Dale Lipschultz, National Coalition for Literacy president, took that theory a step further.

"Literacy begins even before preschool ... to look at it only from the higher education level is not very effective," she said, adding that "family plays a critical, essential role."

There should be a focus on improving educational opportunities for adults, which would allow children to come home to surroundings with educated caregivers, Lipschultz said.

Penn State senior research assistant Barb Van Horn took a more economic approach to explaining why the numbers are so low.

Van Horn said colleges and universities are concerned with maintaining or improving their number of students, so in an attempt to keep tuition money flowing to the school, they may lower their standards.

If the pool of applicants is smaller in a certain year, an institution may accept applicants with scores lower than what they usually accept, she said.

Lipschultz said the U.S. Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics felt the results require more research. She and Bowler agreed.