In the pipeline

Recruits for four-year degrees under UA’s nose

In pro sports, it’s rare to discover that young prospect who has never played the game but has an uncanny skill set virtually unmatched by veteran players.

There aren’t many Sidd Finches out there. Heck (spoiler alert), there wasn’t even a Sidd Finch, beyond the one in George Plimpton’s imagination.

The point — we swear we have one — is that if you’re looking for a needle, it’s far more productive to go searching for one in a sewing supply store than in a haystack.

In baseball, for example, teams have their farm systems — the minor league teams like the North- west Arkansas Naturals in Springdale — that feed time-tested players toward the Kansas City Royals as they’re needed.

The Royals don’t discover their players by accident in a hotel parking lot in Old Orchard Beach, Maine (See Sports

Illustrated, April 1, 1985). No, they go to their farm system, where the odds of finding a future all-star are much higher.

The nearly 28,000-student University of Arkansas is, constantly, on a search for new recruits. In this instance, we’re not talking athletics. Academically, the university still has room to grow, to a maximum of 30,000 students, according to Chancellor Joe Steinmetz.

The state of Arkansas lags behind most states in terms of residents who hold bachelor’s degrees or higher (22 percent). Gov. Asa Hutchinson and his predecessors have, from time to time, stressed the need for the state to graduate more college degree holders, in part because it amps up Arkansas’ capacity to compete for new and relocating businesses.

The state’s funding formula for colleges has shifted in recent years to reward institutions for their success not just in drawing new enrollees, but for actually graduating more students.

The effort to get more Arkansans in college and see them through to completion is multifaceted and requires dedication. Too many Arkansans view higher education as inapplicable to their circumstances. While that may be true for some, it’s really beyond question that more people in the state ought to pursue and complete college degrees.

In the case of the University of Arkansas, where might its leaders want to look as they seek to recruit new students? How about a ready-made farm system that is already contributing strongly to the goal of higher education in the state?

The university wants enrollees who have a strong chance to withstand the rigors of college work and to actually flourish in pursuit of higher education. It’s not so simple as hanging up an “I want you” recruitment poster featuring “Uncle Joe” Steinmetz in a Hog hat.

We’re talking about community colleges, which represent a portal to higher

education that is wider and often more inviting to people who may view a fouryear degree as out of reach. The state is home to 22 community colleges that serve nearly 37,000 students.

That’s what one might call a target-rich environment for four-year institutions looking to attract more students. The UA would like to do just that.

So, for starters, the Fayetteville campus has stepped up to offer graduates of the seven community colleges within the University of Arkansas System quite an enticement to further their education.

What might be a major barrier to such students? Cost, of course. Community colleges are far less expensive to attend than a four-year university. So the UA has now created the Arkansas Transfer Achievement Scholarship, which allows community college graduates a way to continue their studies in Fayetteville at the same tuition rate they’ve grown accustomed to paying at the two-year schools.

That can amount to tuition discounts of up to 70 percent.

It’s not overstating things to suggest this scholarship program can put people’s dreams within reach.

Certainly, other barriers keep people from signing up for classes in Fayetteville. For many Arkansans, the northwest corner seems farther away than some cities in other states. Family commitments can get in the way. Moving certainly seems daunting if someone has lived in the same place most of their lives.

But the Arkansas Transfer Achievement Scholarship can open the door by removing cost as a barrier. Then, some of those other challenges may seem a little less burdensome.

Chancellor Joe Steinmetz said the UA is tapping into the University of Arkansas System as a sort of pilot project. Perhaps, depending on its success, the scholarship can one day be extended to non-UA community college transfers.

While the scholarship program offers potential savings for individuals, its value to the state is its capacity to develop more college graduates holding bachelor’s degree, a measure important to the efforts to attract new business ventures to the Natural State.

Successful community college students have already put in college-level work and gotten used to the demands of higher education. It certainly seems bringing more of them aboard at the Fayetteville campus would create more successes within the student body.

“I just hope it has the effect we’re looking for,” Chancellor Steinmetz said. “And that is to get more students with four-year degrees in the state of Arkansas.”

That certainly should be a critically important goal for the University of Arkansas, one they’re clearly ready to aggressively pursue. The state as a whole should be better for it.