Outlook for Obama's graduation goal uncertain
The president wants 8 million more graduates by 2020.
Published Oct. 5, 2010
President Barack Obama gave an education speech last month about boosting college graduation rates across the country, but that goal doesn’t look certain in several states, including Missouri.
“I want us to produce 8 million more college graduates by 2020, because America has to have the highest share of graduates compared to every other nation,” Obama said, according to a transcript of his remarks obtained by The Maneater. “In a single generation, we've fallen from first place to 12th place in college graduation rates for young adults.”
The president said education is an economic issue.
“The single most important thing we can do is to make sure we've got a world-class education system for everybody,” he said.
Obama also said it was important to boost community college enrollments so that everyone can have a college education and can complete the coursework.
Sara Gast, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Department of Education, said that while many industrialized countries have graduation rates between 50 and 60 percent while the United States’ rate is about 40 percent.
Gast said the crucial thing to do is to make college more affordable and said there have already been many steps in that direction.
“There is a greater access to financial aid, and the value of Pell Grants has been raised to $40 billion,” she said.
Paul Wagner, Deputy Commissioner of Missouri’s Coordinating Board for Higher Education, said the state should boost enrollment and graduation rates. He also said families should do more financial planning, and students should work harder during high school to prepare for studies in college.
“To let more students enroll in colleges, we need to focus on students in high school," Wagner said. "Students in high school should prepare academically as well as financially."
Now the college graduation rate in Missouri is about 35 percent. Wagner said the state would have to work to reach Obama’s goal of 60 percent.
“It is an ambitious goal and we are trying to work toward it,” Wagner said. “However, the funding is a significant challenge because many more people are returning to school at a time when state funding for both institutions and scholarships is being reduced, sometimes drastically.”
Last month, a study by The Lumina Foundation showed states how close they are to the goal and how many more needed to reach the goal.
Dewayne Matthews, the foundation’s vice president for policy and strategy, said the group is trying to figure out ways for states to boost their graduation rates.
“First, each state should be aware of this issue and realize that they really need to increase their attainment rate to reach the goal,” he said.
But Matthews also said he thought Missouri was taking positive steps toward the goal.
“Last month, I went to Missouri to attend the governors summit on higher education held in Jefferson City, and was very glad to hear Governor Nixon say that Missouri needs to increase its attainment rate to reach the goal of 60 percent,” Matthews said.
He echoed Obama’s goals, saying the education system needs to prepare students in high school and then make college accessible for those students and push them to graduate.