Campaign seeks to reverse trend in Texas higher education

UNT students joined with more than 100 other Metroplex college students and education and business leaders Nov. 12 to help kick off regional efforts for the statewide College for Texans campaign. The campaign aims to encourage hundreds of thousands of additional Texans to pursue higher education over the next decade and more.

The UNT students spent the morning talking to students in the Dallas Independent School District about college.

In the Metroplex, 82 percent of students in the sixth through 12th grades say they plan to go to college. Only 68 percent say that a college degree is extremely important in getting what they want out of life, while 49 percent say cost is the main reason they would not attend college, according to a study conducted in conjunction with the state's Closing the Gaps by 2015 education plan. The College for Texans campaign is a key strategy identified in the plan, which was adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in October 2000 and has become widely accepted throughout the state. Closing the Gaps is aimed at increasing higher education participation and success, educational excellence and funded research during the next 15 years. (See the Closing the Gaps plan at www.thecb.state.tx.us .)

UNT students and representatives also participated in College for Texans campaign events in Denton on Nov. 14 and will participate in another event in Dallas on Nov. 16.

The events officially kick off the campaign in the Metroplex. The campaign was authorized by the Texas Legislature last year and is directed by the THECB.

After the kick-off events, College for Texans will continue to motivate primary and secondary students to prepare and aim for college; inspire parents, relatives, teachers, counselors and others to support each child's aspirations to prepare for and enroll in post-secondary education; and ensure that colleges and universities reach out to embrace those students.

The campaign will reach families in the Metroplex and across Texas via television, radio, newspapers and the Internet and through a network of community partners who will continue to sponsor programs such as "Las Llaves del Exito — The Keys to Success." This broad-outreach approach is designed to give all Texans, especially families without any higher education experience, information about the value of higher education, the preparation needed to participate and succeed in college, and ways to find financial aid or otherwise pay for college.

"Our challenge is to ensure that people from all groups and in all regions of the state know that higher education is possible for them and that they should pursue it," says Texas Higher Education Commissioner Don Brown.

"Many students and their families believe that higher education is not affordable, or that it is too difficult for them. We must provide them with better information about how to prepare financially and academically for college, as well as encourage them to take the necessary steps to enroll and succeed in college. This campaign will help us do that," Brown says.

Approximately 1 million Texans are enrolled in higher education today, representing 4.9 percent of the state's population. This participation rate is lower than in New York (5.6 percent), California (6.1 percent), Michigan (5.7 percent), Illinois (6 percent) and other populous states, and lower than the state's rate a decade ago. If current trends continue, Texas will have 1.2 million students enrolled in college by 2015, but that will represent only 4.6 percent of the state's population.

As higher education participation rates and educational attainment decline, so will annual household income — by an estimated $30 billion to $40 billion statewide in 2030 — with dire effects for Texas families and the state's economy, according to demographers.

In response, the campaign is aimed at helping the state bring 300,000 additional academically prepared people — beyond the 200,000 additional students expected to enroll based on current trends — into higher education by 2015. Most of these new students are now children just beginning their formal education, but some already have left high school or college without having attained a diploma, certificate or degree.

BY KELLEY REESE kreese@unt.edu

Other web resources:

• Closing the Gaps

Other featured articles in this issue

• New York Times art critic to present UNT's annual Nasher lecture Nov. 21
• Conference attracts international scientists to discuss latest technology
• Tips to be a savvy holiday shopper this year
• UNT club battles one of the nation's most common fears
• Staff Council approves resolution calling for improvements to staffing levels, salaries
• Weather closing information
• Give a little to the community and get into the holiday spirit

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