Commentary: On one list, Idaho ranks dead last - The Longer View

We're a nation in love with lists - rankings of who's best, who's worst, who's hot, who's not.  

We snicker at comedian Dave Letterman's Top 10 lists. Football fans in places like Boise, Honolulu and Fresno breathlessly await the next College Football Top 25 rankings. Even staid Time Magazine recently devoted an entire issue to nothing but Top 10 lists -  from Top 10 News Stories, to Oddball News Stories, Campaign Gaffes, Movies, Natural (and Unnatural) Disasters, Scandals and Awkward Moments.

Clearly, despite the superficial nature of some of these lists, we do place importance and significance in the more serious rankings. They offer a way to measure our performance or situation against bigger yardsticks - to see how we compare, to identify strengths we can maximize, and to identify areas where improvement is needed.

This subject of "rankings" comes to mind because of an interesting conversation recently with Dr. Bob Kustra, president of fast-growing Boise State University, which this year became the first Idaho university to exceed the 19,000-student mark (19,414).

Discussing the general condition of Idaho higher education, Dr. Kustra mentioned several critical needs, but emphasized one - the need to increase the number of Idaho high school graduates who go on to college.

The value of having our kids go on to college should be so obvious as to negate the need for any discussion except how to fix the problem. We must produce a continuing stream of educated people with the full range of skills needed to sustain a growing economy.

So, how does Idaho rank among all 50 states in terms of the percentage of its 18-to-24-year-old high school graduates (26 percent) who attend college?

Well - Dead last in the nation, is how Idaho ranks.

On most education issues, we can count on states like Louisiana, Arkansas, or that old reliable - Mississippi - to keep us out of the basement. Not this time. Louisiana and Mississippi have nothing to brag about, but at least 29 percent in their 18-24 age group are in college. Arkansas has 31 percent - improved from 26 percent 15 years ago.

Needless to say, that also means Idaho ranks dead last among the 11 Western states (Nevada, 28 percent; Wyoming and Arizona, 32 percent; Washington and Montana, 33 percent; 34 percent for Utah, New Mexico and Colorado; 38 percent for Oregon; and 40 percent for California).

Ranked first in the nation in this study ("Measuring Up: The National Report Card on Higher Education," completed by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education) are Michigan and Connecticut - both at 42 percent.

A football coach with a record like Idaho's in this area would be fired for his failures.

Idaho's desperate need to attract more young Idahoans into college is as much an economic development issue as it is an educational issue.

Gov. Butch Otter recognizes that need. He envisions an eventual $100 million endowed Idaho Opportunity Scholarship Fund, with interest on the fund supporting annual scholarship awards of up to $10 million. The Idaho Legislature authorized the first $10 million last year, and Otter is seeking another $50 million investment this session.

Nevada is only a notch ahead of Idaho with 28 percent of its young people in college, but it's years ahead of us in solving the problem. Their governor and legislature launched the Nevada Millennium Scholarship Fund in 2005 with a one-time $35 million infusion and $7.6 million annually from the state's federal tobacco payments. Nevada high school grads 18-24 are eligible for up to $10,000 scholarships. Right now 46,670 Millennium Fund recipients are studying at Nevada's eight colleges and universities.

Compare that to our Idaho Opportunity Fund Scholarships. The 2007 Idaho Legislature made a one-time $1.925 million appropriation to fund tuition-only scholarships this year. At the moment, 640 students are on scholarships up to a $3,000 cap. Without another appropriation, that one-time grant is about used up.

Clearly, legislative approval of the governor's full $50 million request out of one-time surplus funds would be a tremendous positive investment in both education and economic growth.

This is not about "keeping up with the Joneses. " It's about doing what we can to give our young people the skills they need to provide for themselves and their families, and to maintain the healthy state and national economies we all depend on.

We don't have to be first in the nation, but we certainly can't afford to be last. If the level of our efforts remains so far behind what other states are doing, Idaho loses - and for our sake, for the sake of our kids and grandkids, we can't afford to let that happen.

Steve Ahrens is the retired president of the Idaho Association of Commerce & Industry and a former political editor of The Idaho Statesman.