Earlier this month, a state-funded coalition in Grand Rapids announced a new initiative called Michigan Center for Adult College Success. The group, which will focus on West Michigan, will attempt to recruit adult students who want to complete a college degree or other post-secondary certification.
TalentFirst will partner with community colleges and universities to develop, design, test, and evaluate new strategies and programs designed to appeal to adult learners. The coalition will attempt to increase the percentage of Michiganders who have a college degree. Currently, about half of Michigan adults between the ages of 25 and 64 have at least a post-secondary credential. The national average is about 54%. The group believes the gap prevents Michigan from competing effectively for new economic initiatives.
According to the group, raising the percentage of residents with a college degree to at least the national average would require enrolling nearly a half-million adult learners in a post-secondary program. That’s a tall order. Michigan post-secondary institutions graduate about 115,000 people each year. Of those fewer than one-quarter graduate from a community college. If the ratio of full-time to part-time post-secondary students remains fairly constant, the State of Michigan would need to nearly double the number of post-secondary graduates every year through 2030.
Many of the recruited students will not be able to attend school full-time, since unlike traditional college-age students, they are independent. They may have full-time jobs and dependents of their own. In addition to severe time pressures, the students may not have adequate financial resources to finance their academic programs.
Further, the recruited students will need to complete programs that enable them to make substantially more than the average community college graduate. According to salary data collected by ZipRecruiter, the average associate degree holder in Michigan earns about $36,500, or about $17.50 hourly.
College degree goals will take the efforts of many
A salary in that range is not enough to entice an adult who may have a full-time job, a family, and other obligations to return to school. That’s not to say the effort is not worthwhile. Enabling people to get a college degree is always a laudable mission.
The new academic programs must have much higher-than-average salary potential than the current crop of academic programs offered by Michigan community colleges. Frankly, that will be the easiest way to entice more adult learners into the classroom – whether they’re part of TalentFirst, MichiganReconnect, or no special program at all.
If Michigan community colleges could develop high-earning academic programs (perhaps as a communal effort) and make the programs available to all other community colleges, that would enable a greater number of these complete, high-wage, high-demand programs available widely and rapidly. It would also relieve the institutions of the full cost of developing new programs.
Trying to graduate nearly a half-million adults in the next seven years is potentially achievable, but it is also a Herculean effort. It will take the combined energy of many different institutions to make it happen.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Siegel , via Flickr
