STATES ADDRESSING DISMAL COLLEGE DROP-OUT RATES - WV Colleges Graduating 20%

(08/21/2010)

More than a dozen states have formed an alliance to battle dismal college drop-out rates and figures. Graduation rates in West Virginia are not impressive. Many schools are only graduating 20 percent of their students. Stan Jones, Indiana's former commissioner for higher education, is leading the effort with about $12 million in startup money from several national nonprofits, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. About one in every two Americans who start college never finish. The U.S. has focused on access to higher education for several decades. Organizers say states need to turn their focus toward how many students actually graduate after they get in, even if it means using a funding structure that is based on degree completion instead of attendance, Jones said. "It's going to take a substantial amount of work over a substantial amount of time in order to get the kind of improvement we need," he said. The campaign's goal is to make sure 60 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 35 hold an associate or bachelor's degree by 2020. The group says the high dropout rate is frequently based on a students ability to continue funding their education. At least 17 states have pledged to consider policy changes and draft ambitious plans to boost their college completion rates: Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia.

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