Editorial: Colleges move boldly toward K-14 program

01/11/2006

Urban free-tuition program is what brainpower state needs.

Minneapolist Star Tribune
Last update: January 08, 2006 – 6:29 PM

Consider the power of this message to an urban school child: If you graduate from a Minneapolis or St. Paul high school, you can go to college for at least two years, tuition-free.

That’s right—free. No income test. No elaborate formulas. No quotas or tricky admissions criteria. No need to relocate, either. The college is right in your hometown.

What’s more, if you complete your lower-division course work in three years or less, you’ll be eligible for a “bridge scholarship” that will reduce your costs as you progress toward a bachelor’s degree.

That’s the lives-changing word that will go forth from three Twin Cities institutions of higher learning. The three—Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) and St. Paul College—are taking a big step toward a goal educators have recommended for a long time. The goal: a seamless K-14 public education system that prepares all Minnesotans, of all backgrounds, for 21st-century self-sufficiency and productivity.

Credit the fertile collaboration between MCTC President Phil Davis and Metropolitan President Wilson Bradshaw for this brainstorm. They put their facilities together in the last few years, creating a modern nonresidential college campus on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. At the same time, Metropolitan strengthened its presence near downtown St. Paul, and its ties to St. Paul College.

Then Davis and Bradshaw asked: How can these schools best serve their cities, and Minnesota?

In Minneapolis, 33 percent of public high school students drop out without graduating; another 19 percent don’t graduate on time. The statistics are only a little better in St. Paul. Of those who do graduate, only about half enroll immediately in a Minnesota college or university.

That means that more than two-thirds of inner-city 18-year-olds aren’t on track to be Minnesota college graduates when they are 22. Those are woefully inadequate results for today’s economy. Bradshaw described the consequences this way: “Those who never get to college likely won’t ever make enough money to afford a two-bedroom apartment in their own city.”

To change that outlook, Davis and Bradshaw crafted a three-part initiative called “The Power of You.” Free tuition for city high school graduates who enroll in lower-division classes is one part. Part two is aggressive outreach to primary and secondary school students, planting in them the belief that college is for them. Part three is stepped-up academic support services after they enroll.

The three colleges won’t do it all alone. The Minneapolis and St. Paul school districts will be their partners, as will youth-focused organizations such as the YMCA. Funding will come from donors including General Mills, St. Paul Travelers and the Perlman Family Foundation—at least initially.

A five-year commitment is being asked of the financial sponsors. Five years should be enough to demonstrate whether free tuition and a seamless K-14 curriculum in a convenient location are enough to boost postsecondary participation by city youth. If The Power of You works, “we’ll look for a legislative decision about how to finance a K-14 system in Minneapolis and St. Paul,” said Davis.

If The Power of You works, the Legislature should jump at the chance not only to continue it, but also extend its reach. As a Citizens League study group concluded in 2004, the current 12 grades beyond kindergarten do not supply Minnesotans with an adequate educational foundation for 21st-century living. Minnesota needs a comprehensive public education system that begins in early childhood and extends through grade 14.