Governor Doug Ducey on Thursday traveled to Southern Arizona for the 93rd time since taking office. During his visit, he toured the Arizona Supersonic Wind Tunnel at the University of Arizona and led a workforce development roundtable with business and education leaders.
Today, the Arizona Daily Star published an op-ed by Governor Ducey and Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles and Defense, about preparing students for meaningful jobs. Read it below:
|
|
Local Opinion: Student debt, workforce development need attention
|
|
"They are the twin economic challenges of our time.
"Nationally, the average student who graduated high school last spring will end up with nearly $40,000 in student-loan debt before finishing college. The tab will follow many of these graduates for years, if not decades — forcing them to delay life milestones such as purchasing a home, starting a business and more.
"Meanwhile, employers are struggling to find the trained workforce they need and to secure an employee mix representative of the diverse communities they serve. “Help Wanted” is not just a sign but a sign of the times for businesses large and small across Arizona.
"Consider Raytheon: on any given day, there are roughly 1,000 job openings at the Missiles & Defense headquarters in Tucson. Opportunities abound.
"The challenges of college affordability and workforce development are linked, yet too complex for either the government or business community to solve alone. A public-private solution is what’s needed. That’s why we gathered on Thursday at the University of Arizona with some of the state’s smartest minds in business and education.
"Part of the answer is a program Southern Arizona knows well: Earn to Learn. The college matched-savings program, founded and headquartered in Tucson, has already turned the dream of a degree into reality for thousands of low-income students who may have otherwise thought college was unattainable.
"Through the Earn to Learn nonprofit, students receive $8 in philanthropic financial assistance for every $1 they set aside. Student aid is capped at $4,000 a year and comes with a requirement that participants complete financial literacy training to ensure they graduate with money-management skills. Arizona’s public universities and community colleges participate in and support the program, as do a host of philanthropic groups and private employers like Raytheon.
"Earn to Learn students have a first-year retention rate that approaches 90% — well above the national average — and more than four out of five participants graduate within six years. Nearly two-thirds of Earn to Learn students are the first in their family to attend college, and 85% are students of color. Best of all, most Earn to Learn students finish with little or no student-loan debt.
"We’re anxious to see these opportunities extended to more Arizona students. That’s why, this summer, the State of Arizona allocated $2 million to support the Earn to Learn mission — an investment that will help approximately 2,100 additional students attend college.
"Total student-loan debt in the U.S. now totals $1.5 trillion, and an estimated 3,000 borrowers default every day. The cost of college only worsens the opportunity gap in a country where low-income students and people of color are already underrepresented both on-campus and in the boardroom.
"It’s clear the status quo isn’t working. But Earn to Learn demonstrates what is still possible when government, the private sector, philanthropy and — yes — students themselves team up to tackle college affordability and create the kind of workforce our economy requires."
|
|
|
Thank you,
Governor's Office
|
|
|
|
|
