Arkansas colleges are awarding certificates at faster rates than most other states' colleges, even while the state remains at the bottom in proportion of residents obtaining associate degrees or higher, according to data analyzed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Educational attainment statistics don't show the whole picture of Arkansans' academic success, state educators say.
"We're definitely making some progress," said Collin Callaway, interim executive director of the Arkansas Association of Community Colleges. "It's not happening as fast as we would like, but we are making some progress."
Measuring the state's overall educational attainment and the associated success of its community colleges is difficult because no statistical measure of attainment factors in certificates. Nonetheless, attainment plays a key role in the state's overall higher education goals, and the state has undertaken major initiatives in recent years to improve community college outcomes.
Arkansas' "Closing the Gap 2020" master plan, completed in 2015, calls for the state to increase postsecondary credentials awarded in the state by 50 percent from the 2013-14 school year. Eventually, in 2025, 60 percent of Arkansas adults would have some type of postsecondary credential, according to the plan.
The Arkansas Department of Higher Education said it is unable to calculate an attainment rate for the state because such a calculation requires data the department doesn't have.
Anecdotally, spokesman Alisha Lewis said, the department knows the attainment rate has increased.
"If we simply had the number of certificates earners, this would make Arkansas unique and attractive to industry seeking confirmation of a workforce skilled in areas compatible with their needs," Lewis wrote in an email. "In terms of higher education, this information would allow us to identify areas of need for programming, targeting, scholarshipping, and recruiting."
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates educational attainment, but it does not include certificates in its postsecondary attainment survey questions. People can indicate only that they went to college but did not attain an associate's or higher degree. A spokesman said the bureau tries to limit its survey questions to increase the likelihood that people respond to its surveys.
Census American Community Survey data released in December showed Arkansas third from the bottom in residents with bachelor's degrees or higher (22 percent) and fifth from the bottom in residents with associate's degrees as their highest educational attainment (6.7 percent). When those categories are combined, Arkansas is second from the bottom.
But National Center for Education Statistics data recently reviewed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette show Arkansas with an unusually high number of certificates awarded for its population.
That's likely because of the number of community colleges in the state and the stacked method of awarding certificates, Arkansas Department of Higher Education Director Maria Markham said.
Depending on the program, colleges may award a single person two or three certificates on the person's way to an associate's degree, Markham said. That's so the student can market more skills when applying for jobs and so a student has a credential, even if the student chooses to drop out of the associate's program, Markham said.
The sheer number of certificates awarded doesn't necessarily mean a higher percentage of Arkansans have certificates than other states' residents do, because the data don't account for people who may receive multiple certificates in a year or during the course of their careers. It's unclear if Arkansas has more stacked credentials than do other states.
Nearly 30 years have passed since Arkansas converted 15 vocational and technical schools into accredited community colleges, eventually giving the state more community colleges per resident than almost anywhere.
Arkansas has the sixth-most community college residents 18 and older, according to census and U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard data analyzed by the Democrat-Gazette. Even when accounting for branch campuses of community colleges nationwide, Arkansas has the 18th-most per residents 18 and older.
"We're pretty dense across the state," Markham said.
That density helps increase access to college in a rural state, education experts said.
Since 1990, many of the community colleges have struggled financially, joining university systems to save on administrative and other costs. Rising tuition to keep up with rising costs means students who attend are often left thousands of dollars in debt, according to College Scorecard data.
That outsized investment in community colleges has done little to move the needle on Arkansas' associate's degrees and above educational attainment in comparison with other states, per Census data. But educational leaders in the state say that isn't a good measurement of the colleges' efficacy.
CERTIFICATES
Over time, the state's progress in educational attainment has been equalized by other states' progress, making it difficult for the state to gain ground.
For years now, the state has invested heavily in certificate programs -- postsecondary programs that take less time to complete and cost less than associate's degrees. The state also has pioneered an initiative to reach disadvantaged students that has been cited as a national model for credential completion.
Certificate programs have grown across the country. From the 2008-09 school year to the 2016-17 school year, the number of pre-baccalaureate certificates awarded across the country rose 17.3 percent, from 805,755 to 944,940, according to data.
It grew even faster over that time in Arkansas, which had a 32.2 percent increase in the number of certificates awarded, from 9,816 to 12,977. That was the 21st-fastest growth in the United States.
As the economy has improved, community college enrollment and certificate awards have decreased, experts say, because not as many people need to go to school to improve their job prospects.
Financial stability increases with educational attainment, according to various economic reports, including the Arkansas Education to Employment Report for 2013. Certificates of proficiency and more so, technical certificates and associate's degrees, boost income above what people whose highest degree was a high school diploma earn. Average income remains well below what people who earn bachelor's degrees or higher earn, although some jobs obtained with technical certificates can pay far more than others.
A 2012 Georgetown University study found that 34 percent of people who hold certificates of any kind also have a higher degree -- associate's, bachelor or graduate degrees.
Several community college students said they intended to enroll in a four-year institution after completing their associate's degrees.
Taydrick Willis, 20, is saving money by living at home and attending the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College before seeking a higher degree elsewhere in physical therapy.
Kelli Gilliam, 27, is pursuing pre-health-care studies at Pulaski Tech, which is a certificate program, before pursuing an associate's degree in respiratory therapy. After that, the 4.0-grade-point-average student and former emergency medical technician may apply to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to earn a bachelor's degree in respiratory therapy.
Most job openings that don't require professional licenses don't require certificates either, and some researchers argue that there is little financial benefit for certain certificate programs except to line institutions' pockets.
The certificate demand may be higher in states like Arkansas.
A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report analyzing May 2016 employment data noted that 8 percent of all employed Arkansans worked jobs that typically require a postsecondary, non-degree award, such as a certificate. That percentage tied Arkansas with North Dakota for the highest in the nation.
The state has focused more on certificates in the past five years or so, Markham said. After the recession, industries approached colleges looking for higher-skilled workers. Many started programs geared toward specific nearby businesses.
"They need really good people with more than a high school education but not necessarily a degree," said Bentley Wallace, dean of the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College School of Technical and Professional Studies.
A shortage of welders means the college has a welding program. Health programs are popular, too. In some cases, Wallace said, "we have fewer graduates than the industry needs."
The University of Arkansas-Cossatot Community College, one of the largest awarders of certificates in Arkansas, is leading a partnership with three other Arkansas community colleges -- South Arkansas Community College, Southern Arkansas University Tech and the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope-Texarkana -- called the Regional Advanced Manufacturing Pipeline. It includes area high school students and offers programs in industrial technology and diesel repair, among other things, said Stephen Cole, Cossatot's president.
People don't realize how much money they can make with some technical skills, Callaway said.
INITIATIVES
Arkansas has recently focused on making community colleges more enticing to nontraditional students and those concerned about costs.
The state, like others, has reduced remedial courses -- and thus, a student's need to pay as much tuition for them and enroll in so many semesters -- by adding concurrent lab-like sessions that increase the hours the student spends in each class.
The Career Pathways Initiative also has targeted students most vulnerable to dropping out or never going to college at all, noted Arkansas State University System President Chuck Welch.
The state started the initiative in 2005 to boost college completion among more disadvantaged populations, gradually expanding it across the state. Largely, it worked.
The initiative uses federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funding to pay for tuition, more aggressive advising and other assistance, such as gas money and child care for people who are live-in guardians of children younger than 21. They also must be current or former recipients of various government assistance programs or earn 250 percent or less of the federal poverty level. About 80 percent of participants are women, Callaway said.
Those populations need people to help them balance college requirements and their personal responsibilities, Callaway said.
"It's not sufficient to just enroll them in a class, send them on their way and say 'good luck,'" she said.
Of the 27,517 people who were enrolled in the program between 2006 and 2013, more than 52 percent graduated with degrees or certificates, according to a study sponsored by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The rest of Arkansas community college students completed programs at a rate of 24 percent.
The 2009 cohort cost about $1.8 million but was estimated to save $4.1 million in public assistance because of income growth over the following five years, the study found. They also added more than $900,000 in tax revenue during those years.
At its peak, the program received about $13 million from state appropriations, but that's about $7 million now, Callaway said.
Discount tuition and increased services are nice, educators say, but colleges must learn to appeal to and graduate students in their current budget situations.
The Arkansas State University System has four community colleges -- and is currently merging with a fifth. Most students at those schools are not full-time, first-time students, and many do not have family members who went to college before them, Welch said.
Colleges reach out to high school students and try to plant the idea that college can be for everyone, he said. It's a process.
"It's a long-term cycle of education, of changing a culture," Welch said.
Metro on 02/24/2019