By Brian Noland

This op-ed originally appeared in the Sunday Gazette-Mail on Nov. 30, 2008.

Dr. Brian Noland

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- One significant challenge our state faces is the relatively low number of college graduates who live and work in West Virginia. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, less than 17 percent of our residents hold a bachelor's degree. In comparison, the average for Southern states is 24 percent and the national average is 27 percent. For West Virginia to reach merely the regional average, we would need 101,000 more college graduates.

To understand the educational challenges facing West Virginia, it is important to get a sense of the narrowing pipeline that carries students from secondary through postsecondary education. Analyses by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems show that for every 100 ninth-graders in West Virginia, 73 will graduate from high school on time. Of those high school graduates, 39 will enroll in college in the next year and only 16 will earn degrees in a timely manner. This is simply not enough.

Why do we need more citizens with associate or bachelor's degrees? The answer is twofold: for individual and community economic prosperity, and for America to remain competitive with the rest of the world in today's global economy.

According to the national organization of State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), our country led the world in educational attainment just a decade ago. Now it is 10th in the percentage of young adults with college degrees. Our country has the worst degree-completion rate among developed nations, particularly for low-income students and minorities.

And remember, West Virginia is significantly behind the national average. Clearly, we are being left behind.  

SHEEO further estimates that by the end of President Obama's first term:

America will have 3 million more jobs requiring bachelor's degrees and not enough college graduates to fill them;

Ninety percent of the fastest-growing jobs, 60 percent of all new jobs and 40 percent of manufacturing jobs will require some form of postsecondary education; and

Global competition will demand research and innovation on a scale that America is not yet prepared to support.  

These are sobering statistics. To attract these new jobs to West Virginia, we must have college graduates to fill them. We must accelerate educational progress here in West Virginia and across the country and we must do it now.

There are positive signs. Our state's leaders recognize the need to prepare our citizens to work in the new world economy. The state's 21st Century Jobs Cabinet and the West Virginia Department of Education are working to ensure that secondary school curricula align with basic and advanced skills needed to be successful in both two-year and four-year postsecondary institutions. This focus on the knowledge and skills needed to be successful will keep more students in the educational pipeline.

In West Virginia, there are academic and financial aid programs designed specifically to attract first-generation college students, both traditional and non-traditional. I am also pleased to report that through a combination of merit- and need-based financial aid programs, West Virginia postsecondary education is among the most affordable in the country.

The state's postsecondary system offers an array of academic degree programs ranging from traditional liberal arts majors to cutting-edge forensic and biometric science majors. Across the system, one can find programs to prepare for a career in anything from pharmacy to diesel technology.

While the state has invested heavily in developing these assets over the past decades, we must work collectively to redouble our efforts and ensure that more students have access to college and the means to complete their studies.

I am not suggesting that everyone needs a college degree. However, our state and our local communities desperately need more people who have knowledge and skills to compete in the global economy. The value of a college degree is indisputable. Higher education is the path to higher earnings and a life of opportunity. And, in today's global economy, it is practically a requirement for success.

In the end, we must all dream bigger dreams for ourselves, our communities and the state of West Virginia. We must act to realize these dreams of raising educational attainment so that all West Virginians are able to compete in an increasingly competitive and knowledge-driven economic marketplace. If not, succeeding generations will be left behind and relegated to diminished opportunities. The choice is clear.

Dr. Noland is chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.