Higher education notebook

'College-going rate' up a tad, data show

The percentage of high school students going to college increased by less than 1 percent from fall 2014 to fall 2015, according to a state Department of Higher Education report.

Some 15,479 of 30,370 public high school graduates enrolled in college in fall 2015, data presented to the state Higher Education Coordinating Board on Friday show. Some 15,419 students of 30,800 public high school graduates enrolled in college in fall 2014, data show.

The Higher Education Department measures the "college-going rate" by using the numbers of students graduating from an Arkansas public school district in the 2014-15 school year, first-time entering students in the fall 2015 semester and students who are Arkansas residents. The rate only shows Arkansas public high school graduates who later attend a college or university in-state.

According to the report, the number of public high school graduates fell by 430 students, while an extra 60 students decided to attend college in the fall 2015 semester. The majority of students who attended college were white or Asian, while Hispanic public high school graduates had a lower rate of continuing their educations.

Of the students who did go to a higher-education institution, nearly two-thirds chose a four-year public university -- most to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville or the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

Board's OK another step for UA merger

The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Friday gave the OK for two community colleges to merge into the University of Arkansas System.

Rich Mountain Community College in Mena and Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock still need approval from the national accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission, to officially became a part of the UA System, which is now home to six public universities and five two-year colleges.

Trustees with both community colleges approved the mergers earlier this year. UA System trustees gave their green light in late May, clearing the way for the state's smallest and one of its largest two-year colleges to join the group.

Administrators with the UA System and the two community colleges have been finalizing the merger agreements.

The mergers are the first since last year, when what was Mid-South Community College in West Memphis joined the Arkansas State University System. Now called Arkansas State University Mid-South, it is the ASU System's fourth community college.

College to offer free courses to inmates

A new private college is opening in a handful of the state's prisons.

The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the establishment of Likewise College, a private Christian college that will offer associate level undergraduate courses and degrees to the incarcerated. The course work also will be available to parolees who have not finished their programs, according to the college's proposal to the state Department of Higher Education.

The college will offer, free of charge, an associate of arts in humanities and an associate of science in entrepreneurship, first at the Tucker Unit in Jefferson County and the McPherson Unit outside Newport. College officials are hoping to start recruitment to enroll 100 prospects into a first humanities course by Oct. 31.

Likewise depends on volunteer advisers, faculty and staff members and seeks funding from foundation grants, crowd-sourcing and institutional and personal donations, according to the proposal. The college will use Department of Correction buildings and a prison-authorized scanner, printer and laptop to offer the curriculum.

NW News on 08/01/2016

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