COLUMBIA, S.C. — Lawmakers should look at higher education as an investment, rather than a cost, since South Carolina’s future depends on a more educated workforce, a former Democratic governor and Republican state treasurer told senators last week.
“That’s the kind of investment the business community likes – a safe bet and a quick, positive return,” Ken Wingate, former treasurer and former chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, told the Senate Education Committee.
Just over half of the new jobs created over the next 15 years are expected to require more than a high school education. By 2030, South Carolina faces a shortage of roughly 115,000 workers who hold at least an associate’s degree, according to a study commissioned by the Competing for Knowledge initiative, which is spearheaded by business leaders.
“We need to do a better job of helping those who start college to finish college, and we need to move more people who are finishing high school and think that’s good enough to either get a certificate or a two- or four-year degree,” said former Gov. Jim Hodges. Both he and Wingate are members of the South Carolina Business Leaders Higher Education Council.
Jobs requiring a bachelor-or-higher degree accounted for 60 percent of the study’s projected shortfall.
Currently, just one in four South Carolinians over age 24 holds at least a bachelor’s degree, ranking the state 39th nationwide, according to the U.S. Census.
Avoiding the projected shortfall will require 2,600 additional students yearly graduating with associates’ degrees and 4,150 additional students graduating with bachelors’ and higher degrees, according to the study.