West Virginia v Higher Education

With the recent State of the State address behind them, it is now time for the governor and his surrounding cast to focus on the problems facing our beloved state. The three E’s — if you will Energy, Economy, Education, as a WOWK TV commentator pointed out-- was the easiest way to summarize what Governor Joe Manchin said in Wednesday night’s address. In education he mentioned on multiple occasions about getting students into schools, but said little on the topic of graduation rates that are ever decreasing by the year. There are also holes in the PROMISE Scholarship. We must find a way to keep PROMISE Scholarship recipients working in state.
Manchin talked about the urgency to expand college opportunities. The speech seemed to lack a set standard for students to follow to ensure that they graduate. There are standards for students to keep the PROMISE scholarship, but no standard to make sure our students are graduating. If we are going to spend millions on getting people into school, it only makes sense that we should also spend money on making sure our students can graduate. We are just throwing money away at this point.
In higher education there are still a few questions that have yet to be answered by the governor. What is West Virginia going to do to make sure its college students graduate? What are we going to do to get our PROMISE Scholarship money back? How will the state raise its graduation rate? Some say West Virginia’s graduation rate is similar to the national rate, but I was under the impression that the governor wants our state to be a leader.
The PROMISE Scholarship as most know was put into place to help West Virginia high school students have a chance in higher education by paying for schooling as long as they maintain a relatively high grade point average throughout their college years. I think we need to implement some type of standard that needs to be met for students who want to graduate.
There are some economical issues with our beloved PROMISE Scholarship. I will say that paying for students higher education is good and all but having the students leave right out of the gate is no way for us to gain any economical benefit from our investments. Manchin said that it was the responsibility of students who received the PROMISE Scholarship to stay in the state for a few years and work. The state loses money any time PROMISE Scholarship student leaves the state to work.
Manchin also talked in the 2008 State of the State about an idea that would seemingly make the PROMISE Scholarship a contract that if students left the state after graduation, that money spent on them was to be paid back to the state, however the 2008 plan fell through.
I look at the PROMISE Scholarship as an investment plan that our state uses to make sure high school students who do well on standardized testing get a full ride in college. The state is investing so much money for students to be able to get into college, but there is no set regulation to make sure students graduate. There also needs to be something set in place so that students who get the PROMISE Scholarship can get a job in state.
The problem is not so much the students leaving after graduation, it is the issue of them struggling to achieve graduation. Students who do not receive the promise are not monitored for their schooling at all. If students are getting money for school they should be held to a standard. The standard does not need to be as high as the PROMISE but there should be one in place so that students can be monitored on their progress and we can make sure students are doing what they should be doing to stay in school.
When it comes down to it the governor and his staff, along with the rest of the state legislature need to find a way to make sure our students are graduating. There also needs to be a plan that, in some way, students are paying back the money that was given to them by helping the state economy. I believe that the state and the universities need to find a common ground and set a standard for their students so that new graduation rates can be achieved.