Gov. Jay Nixon re-emphasized his plan to increase the number of Missourians who hold college degrees at his Summit on Higher Education this past summer.
The Missouri Department of Higher Education, on the other hand, has set a goal of 75 percent of Missouri high school graduates to attend college by 2020.
MDHE anticipates increasing the percentage of degree-seeking students who finish their degree within six years from 55 percent in 2009 to 63 percent by 2020.
“It is also true that states with a higher percentage of college-educated residents have lower unemployment rates and access to a skilled, well-educated workforce is often the determining factor in a business’s decision about where to build, relocate or expand,” Nixon said at the summit.
Nixon also said that Missouri granted 1,676 more college degrees in 2010 than in 2009.
According to the 2010 MDHE Annual Report, the rate of enrollment of high school students in colleges and universities has decreased from 69.38 percent in 2004 to 68.14 percent in 2010. In order to help reach their goal, the MDHE has introduced several programs to help students financially and academically.
Ten state financial aid programs granted a total of $98.7 million to 57,307 students in 2010, according to the MDHE’s report.
While trying to increase the college attendance rate for high-school graduates, MDHE also has tried to enable graduates in Missouri to enter workforces requiring cutting-edge technology.
MDHE spokeswoman Kathy Love said in an email that one MDHE program, the Study Missouri Consortium, has been set up to attract more international students and give chances to Missouri students to study abroad. Study Missouri is a collaboration between the MDHE and 23 colleges and universities.
“The state benefits by attracting students to Missouri and by educating students to be competitive in a global workforce,” Love said in the email.
With the continuing economic crisis in Missouri and the nation as a whole, federal financial support for higher education decreased by 5 percent in the 2009 fiscal year. As a result, starting in 2010, MDHE has decided to uphold higher education by assigning federal funds on education.
Love said MDHE has also increased total appropriations for public higher education by approximately $38 million. Additionally, MDHE has promoted several financial aid programs to lead more students to attend post-secondary institutions. MDHE launched collaborative grants to acquire federal grant funds, comprised workforce development and training for health care and energy sector workers and expanded information and communication technology in Missouri.
MU professor David Schenker said he is not optimistic about Missouri’s plan to improve higher education.
“I see this current plan as a continuation of the same, a desperate PR attempt that has little connection to the realities of education, one that will likely create temporary confusion and consternation, but in the end amount to nothing” Schenker said in an email.
Although MDHE has conducted several actions to boost the quality of education in Missouri, high percentages of students remain in need of remediation, making it difficult for MDHE to perform such academic actions.
Regardless of financial constraints, MDHE has dedicated its limited funds to higher education as an investment in the state’s prosperity and future well-being.