In his new effort to strengthen Virginia’s entire educational system, Gov. Mark Warner has focused on two of higher education’s most pressing needs: improving college graduation rates while doing everything possible to rein in the escalating cost of tuition.

 

Who could argue with these goals? Making Virginia’s colleges and universities more affordable and producing more Virginians who hold college degrees are essential prerequisites of our state’s future prosperity. Indeed, the entire “Education of a Lifetime” initiative previewed by the governor recently is based on the notion that only through dramatic improvement in our quality of education can we hope to improve economic opportunities for all Virginians.

 

But the most exciting aspect of the governor’s package is his proposal to give college-bound high-school students the option of using their senior year in high school to earn undergraduate college credits. This is an educational two-fer that would help reduce a student’s overall college expenses and at the same time provide a much-needed fix for the wholesale squandering of learning opportunities that characterizes many a senior’s final year.

 

The lack of meaningful academic progress during the last year of high school – and in many cases the last two years – is a problem that has plagued secondary education for at least 50 years and led to the creation of the Advanced Placement Program.

As a parent who witnessed the high school careers of two daughters and a son, I know firsthand about the academic wasteland of senior year. My kids were great students – taking AP courses and graduating with better than 4.0 GPAs – but they would have been better off going straight to college after their junior years. Not that they weren’t busy as seniors – working on the school newspaper until midnight, losing school days to tennis trips and matches, playing with the band in the finals for best marching band and best symphonic band. They picked up some life skills – tennis, anyone? – but academically, they had entered the Learning-Free Zone.

 

Fortunately, support is growing in this country to make the last two years of high school more productive and stimulating. One of the most prominent national programs is the Early College High School Initiative, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The initiative is funding the establishment of at least 100 new Early College High Schools in the U.S. over the next five years where students can earn as much as two years of college credit while working towards a high school diploma. By providing a physical location to bridge the divide between high school and college, the foundation hopes to make higher education more accessible, affordable, and attractive.

 

How could this initiative, or one similar to it, work in Virginia? As a longtime advocate of  public-private partnerships in education, I believe that Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities could work together to give high school seniors a head start on their undergraduate education.

 

This concept is already working in other states. The University of Dayton, Ohio’s largest private university, joined last year with Dayton Public Schools to develop an Early College High School. Youngstown (Ohio) State University, a public institution, is partnering with Youngstown Public Schools. With public and private schools working in tandem, more high school students have the chance to earn college credit.

Speaking of public-private partnerships, Virginia’s private colleges should also be tapped as a resource as the state addresses the looming capacity crisis at the state’s public universities – another major stumbling block to boosting Virginia’s graduation rates. As the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) recently reported, an estimated 61,000 students above the current applicant pool will seek admission to Virginia’s colleges by 2010, exceeding capacity at the state’s public four-year institutions by as many as 6,300 students.

 

The SCHEV forecast bodes ill for any efforts aimed at improving access to educational opportunities, boosting graduation rates, raising academic quality, and enabling undergraduates to complete their degrees within a reasonable time frame.

 

However, SCHEV also estimated in a 2001 study that private colleges in Virginia have capacity for an additional 6,500 students now and approximately 18,000 additional students by 2010. Why not use excess capacity at private colleges to help manage excess demand? Students at private institutions on average are able to earn their degrees sooner than those at state colleges or universities – often by as much as two years, according to federal statistics. Why not partner public and private institutions to help more students graduate and do so in four years, thus saving money for Virginia families?

 

By working together, public and private institutions can preserve important educational options for Virginia’s college-bound students and ensure a steady flow of graduates into our state’s economy. 

 

 

 

If the preliminary glimpse of his “Education of a Lifetime” initiative is any indication, Gov. Warner’s head and heart seem to be in the right place. The problems he has identified cry out for solutions, and sooner rather than later.  We wait eagerly to find out whether the political will is there as well.

# # #

 

Nora Kizer Bell is president of Hollins University in Roanoke.