"In today's knowledge-based, global economy, college is to the 21st century what high school was to the 20th century," Luis Proenza told an audience at a Cleveland State University. "In other words, today's college is yesterday's high school."
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- University of Akron President Luis M. Proenza believes that increasing Northeast Ohio's economic prosperity starts with increasing the number of people here who have college degrees.
He said that although nearly 31 percent of the region's population, or more than 955,000 people, have college degrees, the national average is almost 39 percent.
And in some metropolitan areas such as Washington, D.C., Boston and San Francisco, more than half the population has at least graduated from college. Even Pittsburgh has a higher rate of college graduates than we do, at 42 percent, Proenza said.
View full sizeUniversity of Akron President Luis M. Proenza"In today's knowledge-based, global economy, college is to the 21st century what high school was to the 20th century," he told an audience at a Cleveland State University on Wednesday. "In other words, today's college is yesterday's high school." The networking event was hosted by Crain's Cleveland Business.
"The Georgetown [University] Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that by 2020, 64 percent of all jobs in Ohio will require a college degree," he added. Just as high school graduates make more over their lifetimes than their peers without diplomas, "a substantial lifetime income gap exists between college graduates and high school graduates."
Women ages 25 to 34 with at least a bachelor's degree, for example, earn an average of 79 percent more than those with only high school diplomas.
College graduates are more likely than their peers without degrees to have health insurance and pensions and to report greater satisfaction with their jobs, he said. "They also have lower unemployment rates, even during economic downturns. They place fewer demands on our health care and welfare systems, evidence fewer criminal activities, and in so many other ways contribute to economic growth, rather than being a burden on the economy," he added.
"College-educated people tend to lead healthier lifestyles, are more active citizens, and engage in more educational activities with their children, who are then better prepared for school than other children."
Research by CEOs for Cities found that for every percentage-point gain in college attainment, Northeast Ohio could see a $2.8 billion increase in personal regional income.
"Sandy Pianalto, a proud Akron alumna and now president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, stated the situation quite elegantly when she said: 'Simply put, areas of the country that have more knowledge capital perform better than areas with less.'"
Proenza said if we wouldn't tolerate having only 30 percent of high school students graduate, "why then should we accept a 30-percent college attainment rate?"
"In fact, why should the U.S. tolerate a 75 percent high school graduation rate when 22 other countries now graduate a higher percentage of their population from secondary education, with some graduating as much as 95 [percent] to 99 percent?"
Seven other nations also graduate more people from college than the United States' 39 percent, he added. "We were once the most educated nation on the planet and now, we no longer are. Where is the outrage?"
Northeast Ohio has more than 30 colleges and universities that collectively enroll more than 226,000 students and award more than 33,000 degrees each year.
Proenza said that although many people focus on the pricetag of going to college, the actual cost of an Ohio public college degree "is well below the national average and has risen well below the rate of inflation." Among Ohio's public universities, "we are now teaching 45 percent more students for essentially the same expenditure of funds as a decade ago."
He conceded that higher education needs to do a better job of adapting to what businesses and industries want from their graduates. He noted that the University of Akron created the nation's first undergraduate program in corrosion engineering with the Department of Defense four years ago, and even though its first class won't graduate until 2015, companies are already reaching out to those students about jobs.
During a panel discussion that followed Proenza's remarks, Ann Womer Benjamin, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education (NOCHE), said employers should help and encourage the nearly 600,000 adults who attended college but never got their degrees to finish their education and graduate.
Susan Muha, executive vice president, workforce and economic development at Cuyahoga Community College, praised efforts such as the nonprofit Global Cleveland that welcomes and supports immigrants and people moving to the region from out of state. Noting that many startups are founded by immigrants, she said: "We see this as an opportunity to bring more people to Cleveland to see the assets we have here."
Dr. Jeffrey Susman, dean of the Northeast Ohio Medical University College of Medicine (NEOMED), said encouraging a more diverse pool of students to consider college and medical school requires providing scholarships, internships and role models. "If we expect to change the complexion of our workforce, it has to start a decade earlier," he said.