Arizona education leaders set a goal in 2016 for 70% of high school graduates to pursue further schooling by 2030, but new data shows the state moving in the opposite direction. Only about half of graduates continue their education within a year, a decline seen across most counties and demographic groups.
The decrease places Arizona well below the national average and raises concerns about the state’s future workforce. With most upcoming jobs expected to require training beyond high school, researchers warn that lower enrollment could limit students’ economic opportunities and hinder long‑term growth.
Molly Bohannon, Higher Education Reporter for the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the state’s declining college‑going rates.
Bohannon shared that at the conception of this state goal, there wasn’t a lot of planning or funding behind it. But in recent years there have been scholarship and dual enrollment programs put forth to work to help boost postsecondary enrollment.
Through her reporting, Bohannon shared what she learned from experts on best practices for getting more students into postsecondary institutions.
“There’s no one silver bullet of how to get more kids to continue education, but it does take a really concerted effort. There needs to be coordination, sustained funding. That was something a lot of the experts I spoke with didn’t see happening in Arizona,” Bohannon said.
Bohannon noted that Santa Cruz county is amongst the best in getting their students enrolled into post secondary institutions and how they were able to get that done.
“They were saying we’re doing things like, they have a lower student to counselor ratio which helps a lot. They have peer counselors who help their peers gets through the FAFSA process and the applying to college process. And so, a little more targeted starting earlier, talking to these students when they’re freshmen and sophomores,” Bohannon said.
Although, Bohannon also found through speaking with local high school graduates that there is a growing number of them that are not fully sold on the value of higher education. This a part of a trend that is being seen nationally. Despite there not being a definitive cause for this, Bohannon shared what she is hearing from counselors.
“A lot of counselors I talked to said that students are more educated about the finances of going on to further education than students in the past have been which is great, right? We want our students to know what they’re getting into but that has deterred a lot of students. And they don’t want to take out the loans that maybe they saw cousins or parents take out,” Bohannon said.
