higher education

Surprisingly, this is via a Detroit News editorial:

The connection between college aspirations and affordability is backed up by a new Detroit News/Channel 7 poll. Among families with household incomes of more than $100,000, 94 percent of parents say their children will "definitely" earn a four-year degree, the EPIC-MRA survey released Tuesday found.

That level of confidence drops to just 68 percent among families with household incomes from $50,000 to $75,000, and falls to 59 percent for households earning less than $50,000.

The Detroit Free Press reports that college tuition is expected to increase again, due to a lack of state funding.  What's worse is that the average undergraduate tuition in Michigan is nearly $2,000 higher than the national average.  This means that a college education is already not as accessible to Michiganders as it is to other Americans.  How can we be expected to diversify our workforce when our students lack the means to even train themselves properly?

Nobody lives in a vacuum -- when revenue falls, it has an impact on our entire state.  If we keep slashing higher ed funding without finding new sources of revenue, we're denying our kids the opportunity to better themselves and improve our state.

The North Dakota State Senate today passed a bill out of committee that is modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise.

Senate Bill 2347 would require the state to pay the bulk – and eventually all – of North Dakota students’ tuition bills, if students meet certain criteria.

Requirements include being a state resident since kindergarten and completing four units of math and science in high school.

Students also must earn at least a 23 on their ACT cumulative composite score or math score.

I like this idea.  These days, higher education the key to social mobility and the American Dream.  By giving kids a path to improve themselves, we help to build a better society for everyone.  Although the ACT has its flaws, I think that it is a far better benchmark of academic potential than the MEAP.

Given our state's current economic woes, it is vital that we develop a talented workforce and keep our kids in state.  For us, increasing access to higher education is even more important than it is for North Dakotans.