Policy agenda meets favorable reaction
The Minnesota Private College Council’s Education Agenda for the Common Good is receiving growing support from the community. Released in November, the agenda calls for state legislators and the governor to increase the number of students who are ready and able to move into college and succeed.
The agenda includes these sensible steps:
- an information campaign prior to high school for parents and students to increase awareness of the importance of being on a path to college,
- a new scholarship for high school students whose parents have not completed college and who take and pass rigorous college prep courses,
- expansion of existing, proven programs that assist those same “first-generation” students in making a successful transition from high school to college,
- additional investment in need-based financial aid (through the State Grant Program) to help keep college affordable for those most in need of assistance, and
- restoration of critical financial support to single parents with children who require daycare while their parents attend college.
Earlier this month a Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder editorial referred to the MPCC agenda this way:
“Here is a plan that could substantially improve the prospects for low-and middle-income students hit hardest by rising tuition and reduced federal aid. Linked with stronger college preparation at the high school level and more childcare assistance for college students, this is a proposal we can enthusiastically endorse. Think of thousands more of our children better prepared for college and better able to afford it without piling up debt, and you’ll see why we must pay close attention to how the Council’s recommendations fare in our newly Democratic Legislature.”
According to its president, Val Vargas, “the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota is very selective in supporting agendas not its own, but we must endorse the Education Agenda for the Common Good 2007. It is essential that we do more to prepare our young people for education and careers beyond high school. This agenda offers a comprehensive plan to achieve this aim.”
And from Lester Collins, executive director of the State of Minnesota Council on Black Minnesotans:
"Broadly speaking, the Minnesota Private College Council's 2007 Education Agenda is the right set of challenges and strategies, at the right time, targeted at the right populations to move the State forward."
In December, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce endorsed increased funding for the State Grant Program. Editorials in the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune also supported the agenda (see story).
In the coming months, the Council will continue to promote this agenda among policymakers. Working together, we can put the state on a solid footing for the years ahead. Learn more about the MPCC’s Education Agenda for the Common Good 2007.