By Miranda Grubbs
Assistant News Editor-The Echo (UCA)
Published: February 20, 2008

The Arkansas Association of Public Universities wants to increase the number of Arkansans who hold bachelor’s degrees to help the future knowledge-based economy, organization director Tim Wooldridge said. 
 
According to a 2003 list from the U.S. Census Bureau, Arkansas ranks 49 among the states for the number of residents with bachelor’s degrees. 
 
President Lu Hardin said: "Only 18.2 percent of our adult population has a degree. We are only slightly ahead of West Virginia. Since we are 49 in the number of college graduates and since higher education is the economic future of Arkansas and since four-year universities are the only ones that can grant bachelor’s degrees, [the AAPU] has the primary goal of helping produce more bachelor’s degrees for the state." 
 
Wooldridge said the organization was formed in order to work in close contact with Gov. Mike Beebe’s office. Beebe has always been a supporter of higher education, Wooldridge said.
 
"[Beebe] recognized that one of the things needed in creating jobs is to get more Arkansans with college degrees," Wooldridge said. "[The AAPU] wants to work in part with the governor’s office to make sure that we deliver on that need."
 
Wooldridge said he believes the future economy of Arkansas will be a knowledge-based economy, compared to the industrial and agricultural economies of the past. The key to a knowledge-based economy is having knowledgeable citizens to work for it, Wooldridge said.
 
"The shortage in the future won’t be a shortage of jobs, but a shortage of talent to take those jobs," Wooldridge said.
 
One of the primary strategies for increasing the number of Arkansans with bachelor’s degrees is focusing on nontraditional students.
 
The organization is still working on strategies, but one goal is to create more need-based scholarships for older Arkansans who left school in the past, Wooldridge said. The organization wants to find these nontraditional students and bring them back into the classroom. 
 
Hardin said: "We are not and will not see an increase in the number of high school students graduating from Arkansas high schools. The number is and will be a stagnant number for the next few years."
 
The only two ways to award more bachelor’s degrees is to focus on a better retention rate and to encourage nontraditional students to come back to college, he said.
 
The AAPU was formed in 2007 with the help of Hardin and other presidents of four-year universities across the state.
 
"Our primary purpose of forming the organization was to essentially do what the two-year universities are involved in, and that is telling the story of the work of the four-year universities," Hardin said. "Hopefully, receiving as a result of the public relations, [four-year universities will] receive additional funding [from the state] that ultimately and directly benefits the students.”
 
The Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges’ main purpose is to provide information about the impact of two-year colleges on Arkansas citizens.
 
The leaders of the AAPU, including Hardin, Wooldridge and Southern Arkansas University President David Rankin, met Jan. 27-28 at a retreat on Mount Magazine to discuss the strategies and goals of the organization, one being to increase the number of bachelor’s-holding Arkansans.
 
Wooldridge said: "The organization is just getting off of the ground. We’re just now accepting bylaws. We’re still looking for ways to formulate the goal." 

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