Morning Scoop: College attainment and growing Arizona’s workforce
Education and business leaders share insight on the importance of college success and growing our workforce
Arizona will need at least 500,000 additional college degrees and certificates to ensure 60% of working-age adults in Arizona hold a postsecondary credential by 2030. Currently, less than half of Arizonans meet this target.
“If we don’t improve these numbers and develop a stronger postsecondary education pipeline, many of our students and workers will be cut off from life-changing opportunities to advance their careers and contribute to Arizona’s historic economic growth,” said Barbara Ryan Thompson, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Helios Education Foundation.
Education and workforce experts joined Helios for a Morning Scoop webinar hosted by the Arizona Capitol Times on Oct. 31 to underscore the value of education after high school and the work ahead to reach the statewide postsecondary goal, known as Achieve60AZ.
The one-hour webinar drew nearly 200 participants, including educators, workforce leaders, and policymakers. Ryan Thompson provided opening remarks in which she highlighted Helios’ strong belief in the “transformational power of education.”
“We see it as a pathway to better people’s lives and the communities around them,” she said.
What is the economic impact of increasing college attainment in Arizona?
The Billions to Gain research released in March 2023 by Helios in partnership with Education Forward Arizona shows that Arizonans with bachelor's degrees are expected to earn nearly three times more than high school graduates over their lifetimes.
The research also demonstrates that fostering a robust college-going culture in Arizona translates into billions of dollars in economic and social prosperity. In fact, increasing higher education enrollment by just 20% per high school cohort could lead to more than $5 billion in economic gains for Arizona each year.
But as data shows, there’s work to do to ensure more Arizonans are prepared for and are completing education after high school.
Just 48% of Arizonans 25-64 years of age have completed a college degree, certificate or license. The numbers are even lower for Latinos, who make up about half of all K-12 students and nearly a third of the state’s population, with only 31% holding a postsecondary degree or credential.
Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz, senior vice president and chief advocacy and programs officer for Education Forward Arizona, participated in the Morning Scoop’s panel discussion. She spoke about the dire need to improve these numbers.
“We know we have everything to gain when we have more individuals educated and ready to enter the workforce,” she emphasized.
Education Forward Arizona recently launched the Everything to Gain campaign, which builds from the Billions to Gain research, to highlight the importance of meeting the Achieve60AZ goal.
“We want to pay focused attention to where the gaps are and provide this opportunity to everybody,” Dr. Leyba Ruiz said. “We cannot afford to lose a single person in this march toward reaching the 60% goal.”
Utilizing data to reach the Achieve60AZ goal
Luke Tate, managing director of the Office of Applied Innovation at Arizona State University, also participated in the panel discussion. He emphasized that data could guide our collective way forward to reach the statewide postsecondary attainment goal and meet future workforce needs.
He also pointed to a new multi-screen data visualization tool known as the Arizona Workforce and Education Visualization, which is offered through the ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence. It allows for deep exploration of how Arizona’s economy is evolving and what that means for Arizona’s workers and learners.
Tate said the visualization shows that most of the high-quality jobs Arizona’s economy is generating require advanced skills and educational attainment. This comes as Arizona is behind other states for high school graduation and college-going rates.
“We have an incredible opportunity right now. Arizona’s economy is roaring, we are diversifying, and we are attracting more high-wage and high-skilled jobs,” Tate said. “The question before us is are we investing in our kids? Will our kids have those opportunities?”
He added neighboring states like Utah and Colorado have successfully invested in their educational systems and focused on what their kids need to achieve high economic mobility.
“Our economy has also relied for the last couple decades on recruiting people with bachelor's degrees and advanced degrees to move to Arizona,” Tate said. “This is a great state to live in, and I'm happy to see people coming here from across the country. But particularly with housing costs having shot up so much in Maricopa County the last couple years, our economy can't rely on recruiting from outside. We need to grow from within as well.”
Why exposing high school students to college and career options early is important
Exposing students to the careers available to them — and doing so early — is another way to improve Arizona’s postsecondary attainment rates, according to Jennifer Mellor, chief innovation officer for the Greater Phoenix Chamber.
“Most of our students only know what their mom and dad do or what their uncle does,” Mellor said during the panel discussion. “But they don’t understand all of the different opportunities that are out there and available in today's economy. We need to do a better job of exposing them to those career opportunities.”
Mellor stated one of the best ways to do that is through dual enrollment, which allows high school students to earn college credits while they’re still in high school.
Dual enrollment students are more likely to attend college, have a higher college GPA, and complete a degree. That’s according to research Helios released in February in partnership with ASU Helios Decision Center for Educational Excellence.
This year’s state budget includes $15.5 million to help reduce the cost of dual enrollment courses, which is one of the biggest barriers for students, and to incentives teachers to become certified to teach the courses.
Mellor said in addition to raising awareness about the importance of dual enrollment, her group partners with business and industry leaders on opportunities — such as internships and job shadows — that put high school students on high-wage, high-demand pathways. It does so through its ElevateEdAZ initiative.
“We need more and more businesses to lean in because if we're going to prepare the workforce of tomorrow, we really need those students engaged at a much younger age,” she stressed.