Task Force Continues Work on College Graduation Rates

Task Force on Graduation Rates

Mississippi's long term talent pool depends greatly on the work being done today in higher education. MPB's Patty Davis reports on the Legislative task force on college graduation rates.

Mississippi's Graduation Rate Task Force has spent much of the last year studying policy, compiling statistics and formulating plans on how to get more Mississippi students to finish college. Bridget Marquis was a presenter at Wednesday's task force meeting. She says college graduates make up the state's biggest talent pool.

Marquis: Talent means higher incomes, talent means more productivity, talent means more innovation. And the way that you can measure talent in your city is by looking at your college attainment rates your college graduate retention rates.

The Task Force is looking at everything from Graduation and retention practices at Universities to student services and credit transfers at community colleges. Task force co-chair , State Representative Kelvin Buck says the next step will be determined after those subcommittees present their recommendations next month.

Buck: Before we can do anything further, we have to hear what those recommendations are. Weigh the possibilities of those recommendations. See what kind of funding implications those recommendations may have. And then from that standpoint we can try and make some decisions. But I quite frankly think, a year is not enough.

House Education Chairman Cecil Brown and all the other Task Force members have dedicated countless hours to this effort. Brown worries about what will happen when the data has been gathered and all meetings are done.

Brown:The concern I have is inertia, to be sure that we don't just stop. That is doesn't just wind up as a report on somebody's shelf. So that two, three, five, ten years from now, that students are able to access the system more efficiently and we've got more college graduates.
The task force was established by the Mississippi Legislature during the 2009 regular session to study and report on graduation rates in the state's public four-year and two-year postsecondary institutions.