Open letter to parents of 2030 college grads

Texas is engaged in a global economy that is increasingly dependent on skilled and knowledgeable workers. Your children, who now may be elementary school age, are the future of Texas. They will be the spark plugs and computer circuitry that continue to energize the state’s economic engine.

As parents, you are critical to student success by taking an active role throughout your child’s education, from prekindergarten through higher education. Encourage your child to read, be curious, seek opportunities and plan for success in both academics and a future career.

Some people question the value of college, but by 2025 most jobs will require some form of postsecondary credential. That is why the four goals of our 60x30TX strategic plan for higher education is important for your child. The name 60x30 refers to our overarching goal of making sure that 60 percent of our youngest adults have a certificate or degree by 2030. Our completion goal states that Texas must produce 550,000 graduates in the year 2030. We also want all our college completers to graduate with marketable skills, and we want to maintain student debt at current levels.

Our challenge is clear: More students of all backgrounds must complete certificates or degrees if Texas, and Texans, are to be globally competitive in the future. Now is the time to be dreaming and planning for their successful future.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is working diligently on studentcentered strategies, programs and policies designed to address affordability and improve student success. It is a myth that in the three-month period between graduating high school and landing on a college campus, students are magically transformed into adults. Too often, academic and financial advising, tutoring and other essential services are optional, with predictable results. Studies show that mandatory services typically yield better results.

Legislation passed this year promotes a comprehensive education strategy to guide young Texans from pre-kindergarten to college. It will be particularly beneficial for at-risk students from poor families or those who are not quite college ready.

One of the strategies is streamlined, coordinated transfer pathways between two-year colleges and four-year universities. Stranded college credits cause frustration and loss of money for students and parents. It also wastes an estimated $58 million of state taxpayer money annually. During the recent legislative session, we worked with legislators and public institutions of higher education to improve advising and explore ways to ensure that college credits transferred from one institution to another are applied toward a student’s major, keeping costs down for students and the state.

Legislators provided $866 million for the TEXAS Grant program, which provides grants to eligible students attending Texas public universities. They also funded an open educational resource repository to combat the rising cost of textbooks, enabling students to access course materials at low or no cost. In addition, Texas is reinventing financial assistance options through the Texas WORKS initiative, an expanded off-campus work-study program that will help low-income students pay for college and develop marketable skills that will prepare them for the workforce.

Texas has more work to do to fully address student success, but we have some tangible accomplishments to build on:

• Our statewide university six-year graduation rate has gone up from 49 percent in 2000 to 61 percent in 2017.

• Our community colleges are the third most affordable in the United States.

• Texas public universities have maintained affordability while improving their research and academic reputations. Texas now has eight of the 86 public universities nationwide that are designated as Carnegie R1 Status.

• Thirteen colleges and universities have adopted the Texas Affordable Baccalaureate program, which can reduce the cost of four-year degrees by more than half.

• Some community colleges now offer lower-cost bachelor’s degrees.

These successes make the decision to stay in Texas the most affordable, attractive choice for your children’s higher education plans.

We are working with the Texas Education Agency to increase college-readiness rates and improve dual credit courses for academic and career technical education. We are also working with the Texas Workforce Commission to enhance the Texas Internship Challenge, expanding opportunities for students to gain marketable skills through paid internships.

Texas is almost one-third of the way toward the conclusion of 60x30TX. If we achieve the actions outlined here, we will make significant strides toward meeting the goals of 60x30TX. We will reinvigorate higher education — from community and technical colleges to universities — as the primary engine of social mobility. We must work together and be relentless in our efforts.

All Texans must embrace boldness and innovation that paves the way to a bright future for our children. By working together to achieve the goals of 60x30TX, we will be able to look back and say we did some extraordinary things for your children and the future of Texas.