PROVIDENCE – A report released Friday by the R.I. Office of Postsecondary Commissioner calls for more staffing and funding for state public colleges among 13 recommendations to eliminate equity gaps, provide more direct support for students and remove structural barriers to graduation.
A 42-member committee, co-chaired by College Unbound Vice President and former U.S. Rep. Robert A. Weygand and Rhode Island Urban League board Chairperson Beverly Ledbetter, met on three different occasions between August and October to discuss creating a better economy in the state; reviewing equity in enrollment, persistence and affordability; and understanding today’s postsecondary students’ needs in creating the recommendations.
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R.I. Postsecondary Commissioner Shannon Gilkey told Providence Business News that he wants to build a purposeful coalition to help more college students graduate across Rhode Island.
According to the 12-page report (which can be read here), 72% of Rhode Island jobs will require postsecondary education credentials by 2030. Currently, per the report, 53% of Rhode Island’s working adults have completed postsecondary credentials.
Additionally, attainment rates are much lower for people in underserved communities than in the white population – 17% lower for Black residents; 27% lower for Indigenous residents; and 29% lower for Latinx residents, per the report. Gilkey also said New England’s population is decreasing, which is creating greater competition for workforce talent.
“We need a collective impact model to make sure Rhode Island and the region is producing talent that’s aligned to the labor force,” Gilkey said.
Gilkey said many of the recommendations would apply to both public and private colleges in Rhode Island. RIOPC spokesperson Beth Bailey said both the private and public institutions do regularly communicate and collaborate with one another to improve the system. She noted, for example, that the office of postsecondary commissioner served as a conduit to all conversations pertaining to the Rhode Island colleges’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One recommendation in the report calls for strategies to connect students and families from underserved communities with resources to help them with various costs associated with being a higher education student. Gilkey said students’ needs are more than just tuition costs.
He said that the Rhode Island Reconnect program, in connection with Back to Work Rhode Island, helps with funds to pay for students’ basic needs so they can complete their education. Gilkey cited the Rhode Island Foundation’s “Make It Happen” initiative, which suggests the state invest an additional $15 million into the Rhode Island Reconnect program because the education completion rate of those in the program who get the extra resources jumped to 88%.
“If that works at that high degree, we need to figure out a business model to sustain that,” Gilkey said.
Another recommendation calls for adding more support staff for colleges to help provide staff who counsel students “meaningful professional development.” Gilkey said there’s not enough support staff at the college level to give students the right counseling and coaching.
The report also calls for advocating for “predictable funding” for the state’s postsecondary system that requires “a state investment comparable to the rest of New England. Gilkey said Rhode Island is in the bottom half in the country in properly investing in higher education and, when state aid decreases, tuition and fees increase.
“That’s hard to for families to predict how much they need to save,” Gilkey said, “but also how much it’s going to cost when there’s not a … proactive [way] in investing postsecondary education over the next period of time.”
Gilkey said the R.I. Council on Postsecondary Education on Dec. 15 is going to hear the report and consider how the recommendations will be built in the office’s strategic plan. That plan, Gilkey said, is slated to be considered at the R.I. Board of Education’s meeting in February.
Bailey said higher-education financing is an issue the council works with institutions and state leadership annually and, moving forward, “it is hoped that these recommendations will influence [state lawmakers’ and institutions’] decision-making.”
(UPDATED to correct name of R.I. Office of Postsecondary Commissioner; MINOR edits)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
