Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) states continue to lag behind the rest of the nation in college completion rates, according to a new SREB report. Authors of the report, “Measuring Success by Degrees: The Status of College Completion in SREB States,” argue that although they continue to progress in key areas, these modest gains may not be enough to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive workforce.
It is estimated that by 2012, at least 60 percent of new jobs will require some form of postsecondary education. And as other nations outpace the United States in educational attainment, ensuring college completion should be a major priority, the authors argue.
“The region’s economic prospects may very well depend on more aggressive efforts to raise degree- and certificate-completion rates,” write the authors.
Overall, most SREB states have a lower percentage of adults 25 and older who have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Nationwide, 29 percent of White adults have a bachelor’s degree, compared with 27 percent in SREB states.
Half of SREB states saw an encouraging increase in first-year persistence rates, or the percentage of freshman students who enroll in school for a second year.
“If first-year students do not continue immediately into their second year, they are much less likely to ever complete a degree,” the authors write.
When looking at the number of high school students who move on to college, the authors found a mixture of encouraging and discouraging data. The percentage of high school graduates who enrolled in college gradually increased from 57 percent in 2000 to 62 percent in 2008. Yet fewer than half of ninth graders in SREB states will enroll in college by the time they turn 19.
