Beef up strategic measures in next higher ed bill.
May 12, 2007
StarTribune
Before vetoing a bill to fund state colleges, universities and student aid in the coming two years, Gov. Tim Pawlenty described the measure as "underwhelming, uninspiring and devoid of reforms."
It's a critique legislators should take to heart as they go back to the drawing board. The vetoed higher-ed bill would have minimally maintained the status quo in higher education, and kept tuition increases in the next two years in a tolerable single-digit range.
But the bill did too little to prepare Minnesota for the day that's soon coming, when a shortage of well-educated workers will be the No. 1 complaint about the state's business climate and a serious drag on state prosperity. A targeted strategy is needed to increase the share of Minnesota young adults who enroll in college -- and, once there, graduate from college.
The obvious target population for such a strategy are young people from low-income families. While the number of disadvantaged Minnesota families has been growing rapidly in this decade, the share of 18- to 24-year-olds from those households who go to college has been falling. Those two trends portend trouble for Minnesota, and cry out for state efforts to reverse them.
Posted by john5091 at May 14, 2007 1:22 PM