Florida policymakers met Monday to discuss how the state can improve its college graduation rate and better equip its youth for the job market.
According to a report by the U.S. Department of Education, just 12 percent of students graduate from two-year Florida public colleges within four years, while 24 percent complete four-year public colleges within eight years.
The report also found a “skills gap,” saying that by 2020, 63 percent of jobs will require a certificate or college degree, whereas currently, only 35 percent of Florida adults have an associate’s degree or higher.
State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan, the first member of his family to attend college, recounted their struggle.
“[It] was an amazing challenge even then. Now we’re looking at huge numbers of students who are in exactly that circumstance, who need a support structure to be crafted around them to offset the lack of experience from the last generation before them and the generation before that.”
Monday’s event was part of the Washington-based Forum for Youth Investment’s Ready by 21, Credentialed by 26 project, whose emphasis is on helping low-income, minority and first-generation college attendees acquire skills and degrees.
Among the attendees: Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins, Chancellor of Florida Colleges Randy Hanna, state Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, and attorney Steve Uhlfelder of the Florida Children and Youth Cabinet.
“While it is important to focus on the big-ticket items like financial aid,” said Brogan, “we’re talking about students who are very fragile – who are perhaps one child-care opportunity from dropping out.”
