Youngstown in contest to increase degrees

May 10, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders, is hosting a Talent Dividend Prize Competition, pitting cities and their educational prowess against one another for a shot at a $1 million national promotional campaign.

The competition, which begins today and runs through the fall of 2014, will entice regions to enhance secondary education.

The prize money is funded by The Kresge Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education.

Youngstown is one Northeast Ohio city to enter the competition, along with Cleveland and Akron, all working under the umbrella of the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education.

The winner will have the greatest increase in post-secondary degrees over a four-year period.

NOCHE is planning to regionalize the winnings, with 70 percent going to the winner and the remaining 30 percent split regionally.

Youngstown State University, according to statistics on its website, graduates about 35 percent of its students with bachelor’s degrees within six years. Those statistics came from students who began classes in 2004.

That figure is nearly identical to the nationwide average.

According to research by CEOs for Cities, increasing the four-year-college- attainment rate in each of the nation’s biggest 51 metro areas by 1 percent would mean an additional $124 billion in aggregate personal income and $2.8 billion for the Northeast Ohio region.

“Our goals go beyond raising the attainment rate by 1 percent,” said Ann Womer Benjamin, executive director of NOCHE. “The contest has just added a little incentive to our goals.”

The group also points to research indicating that 58 percent of a city’s success, measured by per-capita income, is attributed to the percentage of the population with a college degree.

Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber President and CEO Tom Humphries, a member of the Talent Dividend steering committee, said raising the academic bar and winning the contest undoubtedly would help the region.

“It could be significant to bring that [money] into the community,” he said.