Some 31
million adults in the U.S. have earned enough college credits to be classified
as “near-completers,” but it will take a village to help them cross the finish
line to graduation, according to a new report from the Education Commission for
the States.
The
commission “looked at the progress of legislation and initiatives in the area,”
said an article in Education Dive, and found they were overall insufficient to
boost graduation rates among dropouts. Some legislative measures were
well-intentioned and may have helped new enrollees—such as state policies and
funded programs designed to improve the affordability of higher education—but
they didn’t move the near-completers any closer to completion.
One
reason is that near-completers may have been unaware of such policies and
programs, or weren’t motivated to take advantage of them. The senior policy
analyst who wrote the report told Education Dive that “a consistent hurdle for
states is they often need a champion for near-completers, in the form of a
governor or other prominent figure, to help garner interest from institutions,
policymakers, and the community at large” in contacting and encouraging
near-completers to return to the classroom.
The
report lauded those states that had introduced initiatives aimed directly at
near-completers. For example, the University of Rhode Island works with the
commercial fisheries industry while in Tennessee a new “last-dollar” scholarship
program assists adults who need just a little more aid to cover the rest of
their school costs.
