The state of Nevada has been selected to be the first state in the nation to participate in a new program that aims to elevate the country’s college/university graduation rate, as well as make American graduates more competitive with an increasingly adept international workforce.
This program, called the “Educational Equity and Postsecondary Student Success” Program, is funded by the Ford Foundation. The program will focus primarily on raising college graduation rates among minorities, students with low income, and students who are the first in their families to attend a college or university.
Dan Klaich, the Nevada System of Higher Education chancellor, is a big supporter of this new initiative. Klaich explains that he and other Nevada education officials are aware that the percentage of minority and low income citizens in the state is increasing. Many individuals in these groups are not continuing their educations, and Klaich explains that the goal of this and other education initiatives it to “identify those students and figure out why they are not going to college, getting through college and out into the work force.”
Klaich says that minority and low income students who belong to families without college graduates are most likely not to get a college degree. The programs that the state is enacting aim to help these students. He claims that the state has both an economic and moral responsibility to assist this group in finishing their education, as it is often very difficult to finance an education without state assistance.
“Every student has an innate ability to learn and we have an obligation to give every student a chance to learn,” says Klaich in defense of the program.
Klaich claims that these programs make good economic sense because students in these groups who do not receive an education often end up requiring welfare payments or in the prison system. He asserts that in the long run it is much cheaper and more socially beneficial to simply finance their educations before they are forced into these other systems.
Magdalena Martinez, the lead investigator on this program, explains that the project will function by examining student data over a six year period to identify where students are slipping through the cracks. Once these key points are identified, funds will be appropriated to help students in these specific areas.
The ultimate goal of the Educational Equity and Postsecondary Student Success initiative is to help more minority and low-income students get their degrees, and Klaich and Martinez are confident that this program is a step in the right direction.
