Investments in Education:

Communities, regions and states take initiative to boost college enrollment

by Tom Gaston

Preparing students for the “global workplace” is topping agendas of business leaders everywhere, and concerned citizens in Owensboro and Daviess County are considering bold new strategies -- including paying at least part of students’ college costs.

“There is a lot of momentum in this community to find ways to pay college costs, not just for the students but because of the statement that would make about the community,” said Tracy Marksberry, executive director of The Learning Community, citing recent discussions with the Higher Education Advocacy Group.

Both The Learning Community and the Higher Education Advocacy Group are recently-formed subgroups of the Citizens Committee on Education, which began in the 1980s and was instrumental in bringing Owensboro Community College (now community and technical college) here.

Last year the Citizens Committee published a study that contained recommendations for increasing the number of college graduates in the community. The new groups are charged with implementing those recommendations.

The Higher Education Advocacy Group is in the “very preliminary stages of exploring ways to increase support to enable students to attend one of Owensboro’s four institutions of higher learning,” according to Forrest Roberts, who co-chairs the Citizens Committee.
Of particular interest to The Learning Community, Marksberry said, are arrangements in communities such as Madisonville, Ky., that increase college attendance by reaching children early, monitoring their progress, supporting their aspirations, involving their parents and, eventually, paying their college tuition.

Madisonville’s “School Counts”

One of the models under consideration is Madisonville’s “School Counts” program, which has already proven decisive in bringing Land of Frost’s 500-job facility to Hopkins County.

School Counts provides scholarships to Madisonville Community College to all Hopkins County students who meet basic academic and attendance requirements in high school. The goal is to enable students to attend the college tuition free for two years.

School Counts immediately caught the attention of community leaders in Morrilton, Ark., which lost out to Madisonville in competition for the Land of Frost plant. Land of Frost officials told Morrilton that the Madisonville program was a factor in the company’s decision.

“So Morrilton’s chamber (of commerce) and community leaders came and spent a day with us,” said Judith Rhoads, president of Madisonville Community College. “Then they invited three of us to spend a day with them in Morrilton. We gave about four presentations explaining the program.”

The impetus for Madisonville’s program was a speech by Ken Ender, president of Cumberland County College in Vineland, N.J., which Rhoads heard at a national meeting of college administrators. Ender talked about School Counts, a licensed program of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce which rewards students who meet punctuality, attendance and academic requirements. The students receive an employability certificate and a courtesy interview with a local employer when there is an appropriate opening.

Ender built an even bigger incentive into the local School Counts program, raising money for participating students to attend Cumberland County College with their tuition paid.

Intrigued by the possibilities for Hopkins County, Rhoads arranged for Ender to come to Madisonville. Among those who attended the six presentations he made two years ago were members of the Madisonville Rotary Club.

“The Rotary Club adopted the program, pledged $100,000 and contributed 70 energetic workers. Within eight to12 months we had several $100,000 donations and a quarter-million dollars from the Trover Foundation,” Rhoads said. The community now has almost a million of their $1.5 million goal.

Since then, Madisonville community leaders have made presentations in Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden and Muhlenberg counties in Kentucky. Rhoads said the program will start this fall in Muhlenberg County, where the bequest of Iris Givens’ $1.4 million estate made vigorous fundraising unnecessary.

And the Morrilton folks may return to Kentucky to learn more. Thomas Flowers, vice-chancellor of instruction and dean of students at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton, said, “We were really impressed with the efforts of the folks at Madisonville, especially their K-12 emphasis on education. We have zeroed in on some good ideas of theirs and may want to send another group to Madisonville.”

What is the need?

Daviess Countians are fortunate to already have a generous local scholarship fund for students, the John B. and Brownie Young Memorial Fund, established 45 years ago. For the 2006-07 school year, the $18 million fund awarded more than a million dollars in 565 need-based scholarships to Daviess and McLean County students who finished in the top third of their high school class.

Nevertheless, the U.S. Census Bureau recently estimated that the number of Daviess County residents with college or graduate degrees has dropped 12 percent since 2000. Yet many business and education groups say that, in today’s workplace, all students need at least some postsecondary education.

“We want to make sure that our young people and our businesses can compete with anyone in the world,” said Owensboro businessman Malcolm Bryant, co-chair of The Learning Community with retired Kentucky Wesleyan Professor Bob Darrell. “When industries consider where to locate, their main question to the community is, ‘What are your people trained to do? What can we expect from the work force?’

“It used to be that we used our backs and our brawn to make our way in the world, but that’s changed. My life and my children’s lives have changed over the past five years more than probably my parents’ lives changed over their whole lifetime.”

The Citizens Committee study proposed that Daviess County try to match Fayette County’s percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees or higher (32.6%) by 2020 (Fayette County is home of the University of Kentucky in Lexington).

As it turns out, Lexington is already considering locally funded scholarships to raise its percentage still higher. A prominent feature of Jim Newberry’s mayoral campaign is his proposal for “the Lexington First Fund,” which would pay for up to four years of study for students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math if those students stayed in Lexington after graduating.

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