An Educated Workforce for a 21st Century Economy: Public Policy Opportunities...

Faced with "...clear signs of flagging demand for workers with no postsecondary education, the Maine Compact for Higher Education and the Maine Community Foundation have created a framework for acting on higher education public policy issues" (p.11). Maine projects that over the next decade, nearly 60% of its workforce will need a postsecondary degree. The authors discuss four key public policy opportunities:

• “What public policy approaches will ensure that Maine higher education best serves workforce needs?

• What public policy changes will allow more students with financial need to go to college?

• Given demographic trends, what public policy decisions will provide sufficient support for higher education in Maine?

• How can public policy strengthen multiple pathways to postsecondary education and training for both traditional-age students and adult learners?” (p.2).

This policy brief highlights key data pertaining to Maine's coming challenges and contains multiple promising practices to assist in meeting these needs. (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

Full publication title: An Educated Workforce for a 21st Century Economy: Public Policy Opportunities for Higher Education in Maine

• “Unemployment among Maine workers with a high school diploma or less has risen dramatically during this decade” (p.11). • “In the past twenty years, college costs nationally have increased at a rate four times faster than the consumer price index, far outpacing even the group of medical care costs” (p.13). • “Students graduating from four-year colleges in Maine have a disproportionate amount of student debt compared with their peers in other states” (p.15). • “Relative to personal income, Maine’s fiscal support for higher education has dropped by 40% since 1990” (p.17). • “Maine is a leader nationally in awarding general equivalency diplomas (GEDs) to youth adults who did not complete high school” (p.21). • “Nearly two in three graduating Maine high school students (65%) enroll directly in college, placing Maine between the New England average of 68% and the national average of 62%” (p.20). • “Maine’s public high school graduation rate was 80% or higher between the years of 2006 and 2009” (p.19). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2010
• Author(s): Plimpton, Lisa; Quint, Colleen
• Organizational Author(s): The Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute
• Funding Source: Maine Compact for Higher Education, Maine Community Foundation
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies