Demographic Data — From a Midwestern Perspective

Mar. 2010

Midwestern News

Midwestern Regional Forum, Feb. 21, 2010

William Pierce, director of admissions at the University of Toledo, moderated the session at which Brian Prescott, director of policy research at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, (WICHE) reviewed the fiscal context in which to consider the increasing diversity of the region’s high school graduates.

With the caveats that WICHE projections assume, that existing data continue indefinitely and that the large diversity within ethnic groups is not captured, Prescott graphically described the current and near-term situation in the Midwest, including the decrease in funding for public institutions as states are forced to balance their budgets. Currently, only two states are not facing a budget deficit: Montana and North Dakota. By 2016, they too are expected to have shortfalls.

The student population of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana is growing; in North Dakota and Kansas, it is shrinking. The number of Hispanic students in the Midwest is growing. These youngsters are likely to outnumber white students in public schools due to higher birth rates among nonwhites and, to a lesser degree, increases in immigration. There is also a trend, he said, for white students to be in private schools or home-schooled.

The overall challenge is how to educate a skilled workforce to fill the 62 percent of jobs that, by 2018, will require postsecondary training. America’s competitive advantage to date has come from a highly educated workforce, innovation and creativity. Now, there is a growing population of students who are first generation, and of students who need remedial help to tackle postsecondary education. This has national implications. In the face of this challenge, what can we do to boost student academic success?

Jumping in, Pierce proposed innovative enrollment practices to increase the number and diversity of students on campus and improve academic quality plus a shift to a more holistic scholarship approach.  The University of Toledo partners with urban school districts in Ohio to help students meet the gap in financial aid and provides stipends. Oregon, Colorado and Kentucky have also initiated state-wide need-based financial aid approaches.