When it comes to enrolling in college, recent graduates of Tennessee high schools do so at a higher rate than their peers across the nation. That’s the positive part of the state’s higher education equation. What’s not so positive is that Tennessee’s college graduation rates continue to trail both national and regional rates. If Tennessee is to compete effectively in a work environment that puts a premium on academic achievement and technical excellence, the graduation rate must improve.
There is, to be fair, some progress in attaining that goal in a state where education has not always received the attention or support it deserves. According to a new Southern Regional Education Board report, 69 percent of Tennessee students who completed high school in the previous 12 months enrolled in some type of college in 2008, the last year for which figures are available. That represents a gain of 6 percentage points from 2000 to 2008, and it outstrips the national college enrollment rate of 63 percent during the same period.
Clearly, the state is doing a better job than it has in the past of preparing youngsters for higher education and in providing places for them in public colleges and universities. The problem is that too few of those who enroll complete their studies. The numbers tell the tale.
In Tennessee, only 48 percent of first-time, full-time college freshman in 2002 graduated by 2008 from the same public four-year institutions where they began. That’s too low, but it is an improvement. It was 43 percent in 2003. The rate at two-year colleges was far worse. Only 11 percent of full-time students there in 2005 had graduated by 2008. That represented a 1 percent decline from 2000. The latter isn’t the only troubling number to emerge from the SREB report.
Tennessee continues to trail most of the nation in the percentage of adults 25 and older who hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Only 22 percent did so in 2008. That’s a figure that businesses and industry consider carefully before deciding to locate in a state. Tennessee’s low number of graduates likely is more a hurdle than an asset in attracting new businesses and industry to the state.
The news and numbers in the SREB report are not all bad. Tennessee did rank 11th in the nation in 2008 in recent high school graduates enrolling in some sort of higher education. It also was one of only seven of the 16 states in the SREB region to increase the percentage of first-time, full-time students who returned the following year to a public four-year college or university. Most importantly, the graduation rate, though still low, rose continually from 2002 to 2007.
Still, the SREB report on Tennessee is a mixed bag. Some of the problem is related to the way information is gathered. Some of the data is skewed because measurement of college graduation rates does not include part-time and transfer students, increasingly a part of campus populations. Better programs to capture and analyze graduation data might improve the state’s ranking. It is still difficult, however, to sugarcoat the report. The state’s students continue to lag behind their peers in many areas of higher education.
Tennessee’s legislative and education leaders are aware of the need to improve statewide graduation rates and to create programs that more accurately track students in higher education programs. That awareness does not always translate into positive momentum. Heavy cuts in state funding to education in recent years have made it difficult to sustain programs vital to sustained academic growth.
Some progress had been made. State legislation now requires colleges and universities to improve graduation rates. Those laws have teeth. In the future, some state funding for higher education will be tied to graduation rates rather than enrollment figures. That’s certain to attract educators’ attention and, sooner or later, lead to improved results.
Tennessee’s future is inextricably tied to the ability of its citizens to meet increasing standards in academic achievement and technical expertise. The SREB report is doubly helpful. It pinpoints where the state stands in preparing students to meet current workforce demands. It also is an indication of how far it must travel before its citizens can compete successfully with men and women in other states and, increasingly, around the globe. How the state meets the latter challenge will determine Tennessee’s economic future.