Foundation’s report confirms positive impact of ASU upon community
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Oct. 19, 2013
Almost everyone acknowledges the impact of Arkansas State University’s Jonesboro campus on its community, and the second edition of “Aspire Arkansas,” a report produced by the Arkansas Community Foundation and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, puts some numbers to that impact.
The report was presented to a large crowd at the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, one of a series of regional meetings held around Arkansas.
“Aspire Arkansas” includes a wealth of data that can be used to help communities make good choices for improvement, according to Heather Larkin, chief executive officer and president of the ARCF, who spoke briefly during Tuesday’s meeting.
The Arkansas Community Foundation, by the way, is a nonprofit organization that supports charitable programs by working with other organizations and foundations. It has affiliate organizations in Craighead, Greene and Mississippi counties in Northeast Arkansas.
As treasurer of the Arkansas Newspaper Foundation, I worked with ARCF officials last year to establish two endowments, one to fund our group’s newspaper internships and the other to perpetuate the Ernie Deane Award, named in honor of the late journalist and educator. So I’ve seen its good work up close.
Back to my original point, one of the many “Aspire Arkansas” charts shows that among Craighead County population of people 25 and older, 23.7 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Larkin attributes that to the location of ASU-J here, and I would agree. All counties with a university are above the state average.
Craighead’s percentage ranks well above the state average of 19.6, which is abysmal, placing Arkansas 50th among all states and the District of Columbia, ahead of only West Virginia. The national average is 28.2 percent. Incidentally, D.C. is the national leader by a large margin with 50.5 percent, which would seem to prove that education doesn’t cure all ills.
If Arkansas could match Craighead’s percentage, that would be good only for 41st place, but still a worthwhile jump.
In Arkansas the pace is set by Pulaski County, home of the state capital, with 31.3 percent, followed by Washington and Benton counties in Northwest Arkansas, home of the University of Arkansas, each with 27.6. Craighead is fourth.
The report also shows that, by a narrow margin (less than half a percent), more men in Arkansas have bachelor’s degrees than women. That may soon change, though. The Arkansas Traveler, UA’s student newspaper, reported last week that for the first time in history the Fayetteville campus has a majority female enrollment — 50.3 percent to 49.7 — roughly a reversal of last year’s numbers.
Unfortunately, the impact of ASU-Jonesboro on its immediate community hasn’t spread much beyond the county, as one might expect. All other NEA counties are well below the state average, the ARCF report shows.
Of the counties bordering Craighead, only Greene (12.1) and Mississippi (12.6) are even in double figures. Both have 2-year college programs. The others are all at roughly half the state average — Poinsett and Lawrence, 9.4 each, and Jackson, 8.
Going further into the Delta, you find Lee County at only 6.5 percent, lowest in the state.
Another chart shows the percentage of the population 25 and older with an associate’s degree (generally requiring two years of college) as the highest level of education. But it doesn’t show much advantage for the counties in which a 2-year college is located.
Further down the educational ladder, another chart shows that the percentage of Arkansas citizens 25 and older with a high school degree is 82.7, ranking the state as No. 44, and below the national average of 85.4.
One of the great challenge for Arkansas’ colleges and universities is bringing those high school graduates up to college-level work even after they have received their diplomas. The remediation rate shows the percentage of high school graduates who must take noncredit “catch-up” courses in math, English or reading before they can handle other college courses competently.
Overall, the state’s average for the fall term of 2012 was an atrocious 52.4 percent, according to an “Aspire Arkansas” chart. That’s based on numbers from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, but it seems to contradict a January press report issued by ADHE which placed the number at 47.8 percent. That’s still bad, but at least it reflected a continuing downward trend.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t include everybody who graduated from high school last year but only those who were tested because they wanted to go to college.
Craighead County’s composite average was 42.5 percent, again showing the impact of a major university in Jonesboro. That was even better than Washington County’s 44.4. I’m at a loss to explain that rural Madison County had the lowest number in the state, 34.2 percent, except to suggest that the three school districts in that county must be doing something right.
Why does all this data about education matter? As Larkin pointed out, one’s level of education provides a much greater advantage to succeed in life financially, even at the basic level. Census date shows that a high school dropout will make $1 million less in his or her lifetime than a graduate. That dropout has twice the chance of being unemployed than the graduate.
Beyond that level, we have greater opportunities but still have lots of work to do.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.