Mississippi high schools are graduating fewer and fewer students, which tightens the pool for potential university students, Mississippi State University’s president Mark Keenum said Thursday.
“Why? Fewer people are graduating high school because our state’s population isn’t expanding,” said Keenum, in his eighth year leading MSU.
Speaking at the Stennis Institute’s Capital Press Luncheon in Jackson, Keenum blamed the student loss on an “out-migration” of Mississippi residents seeking better jobs elsewhere.
He said a recent survey showed that only about half of MSU’s students stay in state after graduation.
“That’s not bad,” he admitted, indicating he’s proud that out-of-state opportunities are open to his students.
But he said he “hopes to build on opportunities to bring them back home” one day.
Keenum also spoke about the growing challenges he and other state university leaders face in meeting student expectations while wrestling with diminished state resources.
He cited multiple studies showing higher wage jobs for college graduates compared to people with and without a high school diploma.
“There’s a direct correlation between higher income and higher educational attainment,” he noted. “Imagine what Mississippi could look like today if 35 percent of our people had college degrees.”
Less than 20 percent of state residents have college degrees. The state’s annual per capita income is slightly more than $21,000, he said.
Keenum compared Mississippi income statistics to Connecticut’s average income of $39,000 with 36 percent residents with college degrees and Massachusetts’ average income of $36,500 with 38 percent residents with college degrees.
“If we had a better educated citizenry,” the MSU chief added, “it would translate into more jobs and more opportunities.”
While it costs MSU $16,400 per year to educate a full-time student, he said a full year’s tuition for an in-state student is $7,500.
Keenum said MSU bolsters that income with higher rates charged out-of-state students. Other significant resources include gifts from alumni and friends, in addition to state appropriations.
He also said he relishes the opportunity to show state political leaders how MSU spends state appropriations and “what we’re doing at Mississippi State.” The Mississippi Legislature has ordered a study of spending at all state universities.
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Interesting article. Our daughter just started her freshman year at MSU. We are from Colorado, so consequently we pay out of state tuition. And when Dr. Keenum says they bolster the income with out of state tuition, boy does he mean bolster. Out of state tuition charges are nearly double the cost of actual tuition. Knowing that this was our decision to send her to MSU, mainly because it was the closest state (to us) that offered the degree she is after, this still should not give the college free reign to gouge out of state kids or their parents. In order to create a truly “better educated citizenry” you need to have a unique blend of people from all parts of the country. This is how their eyes are opened to the world that is out there, wanting to better themselves and strive to find their way, financially and educationally.