Program seeks hike in college attendance New England states want to retain students

MONTPELIER, Vt. – New England states, facing a demographic shift in which their young people increasingly are leaving the region for a higher education and then settling elsewhere after graduation, launched a new initiative Wednesday designed to reverse the trend.

College Ready New England, unveiled at a Vermont Statehouse news conference, aims to work with the region’s governors and lawmakers on ways of better preparing young people for college, boosting enrollment at New England institutions and raising graduation rates.

“We’re going to try to do something about [it],” Evan Dobelle, president of the New England Board of Higher Education, said of the demographic trends. “We are reaching a demographic crisis, particularly in New England.”

All six states have committed to the goals of College Ready New England, although how to achieve them is being left to each individual state. The goals are:

. Increasing the number of high school graduates and number of people earning general equivalency diplomas.

. Improving high school education so graduates are better prepared for college or a career.

. Expanding the number of people enrolling in two- or four-year institutions.

. Raising college graduation rates.

“We’re working with the six states to help them develop strategies,” said Michael Thomas, senior vice president of the New England board and director of College Ready New England.

The board issued a report complete with statistics to back up its argument of the need for attention to higher education. Vermont has the second oldest population in the country, highlighting the need to keep young people in the state for their careers. Massachusetts was the only state in the country to lose population and is replacing some of that loss through immigration. Between 2003 and 2005, the percentage of low-income Rhode Island students performing at or above their proficiency level in math and reading declined.

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas has been battling with his Legislature on what he sees as one way of beginning to address some of those issues. He wants to start a $175 million scholarship program that would go to Vermont students attending in-state institutions. If they spent the first three years of their careers in Vermont, the money would be a scholarship. If they didn’t, it would be a loan that would have to be repaid.

Lawmakers largely support the idea but they have refused to use tobacco settlement money that Douglas wants to use and he’s threatened to veto the budget if they don’t go along.

The New England board declined to get drawn into that debate, but said it would work with each state to develop ways to improve education and ultimately economic competitiveness.

It is recommending, for example, that all students automatically be enrolled in a college prepatory curriculum unless they specifically opt out. That’s the opposite of how it works now in most schools. Colleges, universities and private businesses should be given better opportunities to reach out to primary and secondary students to instill a greater love of learning, something that’s not happening now.

“You have youngsters at the age of 8, 9, 10 years old who have already given up on the hope of going to college,” Dobelle said. “People are not going to college because they can’t afford it and they’re not prepared for it.”