U President Michael Young fears that if the growing number of minority high school students in the United States does not continue to higher education, the overall college enrollment rates will decrease, he said in a forum on Tuesday.
Young gave students and members of the U community a glimpse of what colleges in the United States might be like in the 22nd century, but the picture he painted, revealed a negative outlook.
Growing trends suggest minority students, who statistically are less likely to attend college, are becoming the majority in America. The number of minority high school students who do not go on to any form of higher education after they graduate is increasing, he said.
Young proposes solving this problem by creating an outreach program to promote higher education to minority students.
The presentation was part of the annual Frederick William Reynolds Lecture Oct. 28, which was hosted by the U’s continuing education department. The lecture series, which dates back to 1836, has sought to bring citizens up to speed about what’s happening on Capitol Hill, said Sandy Parkes, associate dean of Outreach and Continuing Education.
Both state and federal funding have decreased significantly in the past 20 years, Young said. State funding dropped from approximately 30 percent in 1985 to almost 11 percent in 2008, he said.
Young said he fears if private donations don’t increase to counteract the drop in state funding, the United States might not remain a super power for much longer.
“We need to tailor our education better to the job market in order to remain on top,” Young said.
America has stayed on top of the international totem pole for so long because of its effort to invest money in research and developing advanced technologies, he said.
With state budget cuts, the U will need to seek other donations to keep expanding the university and training students to be competitive in the changing job market.
The next generation of students will have more technology to use and need to learn multiple disciplines and careers to keep up with the international field, Young said.
He said there is also an increasing demand for students to work with businesses overseas. Changes to the markets in India affect what happens in America’s Wall Street, Young said.
He pointed out that some business and engineering students will be paired up during the year for marketing projects to better prepare them for their future careers.
Besides training students to collaborate with other nations, Young also said the United States could lose its years of advancement and research from other problems.
Young said programs encouraging minority students to attend higher education institutions need to be organized.
“If you make less available the opportunity to go to college, (minority students) will be locked in their lower socioeconomic class,” he said.
The speech drew local Academy for Math, Engineering and Science students from Salt Lake City, including Ariel Aldrett, who is thinking about his own college career.
“I was told this would be (about) how the U’s going to change over the next decade, and I wanted to see how that would focus (on) me going to the U,” Aldrett said.
Nick AndrewPresident Michael Young presented his negative outlook on the future of colleges to students and other members of the U community.