The Wall Street Journal weighed in a few weeks ago with a story of the lack of well-educated workers in this country.  The Journal noted that one indicator of this shortage is that employers are now paying the typical college graduate 75% more than they pay high school grads.  Twenty five years ago the premium was 40%.

Moreover, we know that the number of college graduates is one of the two most significant determinants of a state’s economic success (the other factor being R&D expenditures).  A few weeks ago I wrote a column describing the work of the Compact for Higher Education and its plan to substantially increase the number of college graduates in Maine to match the New England average by the year 2020.  The Compact estimates that this will require an additional 40,000 degree holders above current projections.  Simply put, Maine  needs to start doubling the number of college graduates  each year  to have a chance of meeting  this goal.

 Several readers of my first column noted that I did not reflect how difficult it would be for Maine to significantly increase its college degree holders.  One reader who has been involved as a mentor to first generation college students as part of a program founded by the Melmac Foundation wrote of the struggles of the students she has mentored.  Keeping them in school required much encouragement and support.  The Mitchell Institute has had much the same experience with their Mitchell Scholars program.

However, programs like those funded by Melmac and the Mitchell Institute support very few of the more than 8,000 Maine high school graduates who go on to higher education each year.  Seen in this context, these readers are right to question the ability of the Compact for Higher Education to achieve its 40,000 graduate goal.

There is no question that the Compact’s plan is targeted on significant issues:  increasing awareness of and access to college, enlisting employers to encourage and support degree attainment, and strengthening adult education programs.  The question is: are resources adequate to really move the needle on this effort?  The answer is probably no.  The Compact’s efforts are promising, but on their own are unlikely to substantially increase the number of college graduates in Maine in the next ten to fifteen years.

If the state were to fully embrace the goal of adding 40,000 college graduates, what would it take?  It would certainly take substantially more financial support or substantially reduced tuition at state universities.  Financial access is a major barrier.  The UMaine system tuition is expensive by public university standards.  The Chancellor of the system has just announced another 7 percent tuition increase.  This situation would need to be turned on its head.

Next the University system would need to develop support programs for its incoming students modeled on those of Melmac and the Mitchell Institute.  This is intensive one on one support, but it can pay big dividends.  Currently, fewer than half of those students who enter the UMaine system graduate within 6 years of matriculation compared to more than ninety percent of Mitchell Scholars.

Third, we would need to do much more to encourage non-school age adults to gain a college degree.  This would mean substantial employer support in the form of time and incentives.  It would also mean transforming the current vision of adult education in the state.

It is all too easy to write off this vision of Maine’s future as the “Education State” as simply pie in the sky.  How could we possibly fund this when we can’t come up with an extra ten million dollars to limit the University system’s tuition increase?

However, as the Brookings blueprint for the state suggests, Maine must make some significant investments if we are to get our economy moving.  To make these investments we must make difficult choices in other areas.   Brookings and others have pointed out areas where substantial cost reductions are feasible to fund such investment.  This is the place to start.  The vision of Maine as the “Education State” is attainable.  Every journey begins with a first step.  Let’s find the savings needed to get this one moving.