Editorial
Trend poses challenge for Hoosiers future
What s next? For an increasing number of graduating Hoosier high school students, the answer apparently isn t college.
It s a troubling trend highlighted in a recent report that should be eye-opening for state policymakers, Indiana schools, employers and students themselves.
The Indiana College Readiness Report, an annual publication of the state s Commission for Higher Education, shows the number of college-bound seniors at its lowest rate in about a decade. Only 59% of 2019 graduates enrolled in college after graduation, according to the report published in late April, down from 61% the year before.
The numbers are singularly sobering, but they re worse when coupled with knowledge that the data precede the COVID-19 pandemic – a crisis the commission says exacerbated problems facing higher education in Indiana, including college-going rates and people questioning the importance of a college degree.