State - by state risks to higher educationand postsecondary educational opportunity

Rising tuition prices and student debt loads have come to dominate the debate over the future of higher education in the United States. But a new report from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) finds that in order to understand the obstacles to making college accessible and affordable, leaders must consider, but look beyond college sticker price and state appropriations. 

The College Opportunity Risk Assessment is the first state-by-state analytic tool to compare the many intersecting risks to postsecondary educational opportunity, such as how a state prepares its high school students, how it engages non-traditional college students, how it supports minority students, and the state’s fiscal health and stability.

Read the full report here.

The assessment includes a risk ranking for all 50 states, and an examination of where each state is most at risk. Among researcher Joni Finney’s findings:

• Every state has a long way to go to have enough adult workers with college degrees, workforce certificates, industry certifications, or other high-quality college credentials to meet the economic and civic challenges of the 21st century. Many states cannot reach the demand for more credentialed and degreed workers by focusing only on young people. Even Washington state, which is least at risk in these rankings, is projected to fall more than a quarter million credentials shy of expected need by 2025.
• States that are making the most per-student investments, and spending that money efficiently, are not in the clear. Despite besting the rankings in higher education funding and productivity, Arizona ranks 13^th overall, and without significant changes, will struggle to produce enough graduates.
• While many states in the southeast are the most at risk (Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana all rank in the bottom 5), the lower half of the rankings covers the map. This reflects the lack of a national policy for improving access to college.
• Wealth does not fully mitigate against risk. Connecticut has the second-highest median household income according to the US Census Bureau – but it ranks 44^th here.