Looking to improve Arkansas’ higher education performance

Looking to improve Arkansas’ higher education performance

Out of the 11.6 million jobs created since of the recession, 11.5 million went to workers with at least some college education. Only 80,000 of the jobs went to workers with a high school diploma or less.

Degree attainment among Arkansans rose from 28.8 percent to 29.8 percent, moving the state to 48th in the nation, ahead of Louisiana and West Virginia.

We know to compete in the current workforce, we must do better.

That is why in October of last year, the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board voted to adopt the Closing the Gap 2020 Master Plan. One of the several goals of this plan is to see 60 percent of Arkansans complete a career certificate, 2-year, or 4year degree. Right now, only 43 percent of Arkansans have some type of post-secondary credentials.

The first goal is to increase college graduation rates in the state by 10 percent. The Department of Higher Ed believes this can be achieved by reducing the percentage of students needing remediation to prepare them for college level course work.

The second goal is to increase college enrollment for adults ages 25-52 by 50 percent by the year 2018.

The Master Plan also seeks to improve college affordability by allocating 25 percent of state scholarship funds to need-based programs and reducing time to degree for students.

This week, the Education Committee heard details on proposals to make these goals a reality. The proposals include a plan for implementation and a funding model which will go before the Higher Ed Coordinating Board later this month.

Dr. Brett Powell, Director for the Arkansas Department of Higher Education says if adopted, the plan will provide a road map for how we can move forward in increasing completion rates, closing equity gaps and improving affordability.

The second proposal includes moving away from enrollment based funding to outcome based funding. Many states have either adopted or are considering this model of funding for colleges and universities. Where enrollment based funding rewards institutions for expanded access to higher education, outcome based funding rewards those institutions for degree completion.

The Coordinating Board is set to meet on July 29.

You can find information about the Master Plan and their recommendations at www.adhe.edu.

And if you are an adult considering going back to school, be sure to check out the website for resources that may be available to you. It is never too late to learn.

From State Representative Deborah Ferguson