Ingram's August 2022

DESTINATION MISSOURI REASONS TO CHOOSE

Education and the Workforce

IN A TIME OF NATIONAL ECONOMIC PERIL, MISSOURI IS POISED TO PUSH FORWARD.

When more than 313,400 young Mis sourians and imports from out of state had to make a selection for their college education, the choices weren’t always easy: Public four-year college? The state has 13 of them anchored by the four-cam pus University of Missouri system. For nearly 137,000 of those students, that was the way to go for the fall semester of 2021. Public two-year college? With their programs’ focus on training for jobs that might offer immediate placement, more than 74,000 students took this path through 14 institutions. Private four-year college? Two doz en independent liberal arts colleges, often in small towns dotting the state, attracted slightly more than 102,000 students. All told, more than 313,000 mem bers, a workforce in waiting, took college courses in the Show-Me State last fall, a figure that doesn’t include enrollments from 11 specialized institutions, produc ing thousands of new doctors, nurses, art ists, IT workers, and others. In the spring of 2021, the state’s pri vate and public four-year and two-year schools issued more than 92,000 diplo mas or certifications. And good thing, too: the nation is caught in the vise of a job market that is strapping employers desperate for skilled, motivated workers. The fact is, there are more jobs avail able than there are college graduates to fill them. Colleges are straining to do just that, even as demographic trends contin ue to shrink the pool of candidates. In the five-year period between 2016 and 2021, overall college enrollment fell 16.6 per cent in Missouri—20 percent or more at An Academic Pillar | The University of Missouri in Columbia is the flagship of a four-campus system operating urban universities in St. Louis and Kansas City, and the state’s premier STEM-focused institution in Rolla. Nine other

the private and two-year public colleges. That made the four-year public institu tions the bright spot, with a decline of 14.5 percent. That, of course, mirrors national trends, but with only about 30 percent of Missouri’s workforce holding college degrees, much work remains if the state is ever to meet the goal of 60 percent outlined by former President Obama in 2009. Clearly, though, the physical assets are in place to begin that process. Among the institutions of higher education with in Missouri, you will find: n The four-campus University of Missouri system is anchored by the main campus in Columbia, with regional cam puses in Kansas City and St. Louis, and the science and technology-focused cam pus in Rolla. Combined, they had nearly 70,000 students enrolled last fall. Sys temwide, that broke a string of broader enrollment losses posted by other institu tions. n State-funded universities are not limited to the MU system; nine other four-year state-supported public colleges fill regional gaps, with the biggest of those in Springfield, where nearly 30,000 stu dents at Missouri State University made

MISSOURI PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES & COMMUNITY COLLEGES

Crowder College East Central College Harris-Stowe State University

Jefferson College Lincoln University Metropolitan Community College Mineral Area College Missouri Southern State University Missouri State University Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri Western State University Moberly Area Community College North Central Missouri College Northwest Missouri State University Ozarks Technical Community College Southeast Missouri State University St. Charles Community College St. Louis Community College State Fair Community College State Technical College of Missouri Three Rivers College Truman State University University of Central Missouri University of Missouri University of Missouri–Kansas City University of Missouri–St. Louis

Source: Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development

state-funded four-year colleges are in smaller cities throughout Missouri.

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