The Commissioner's Corner

Study Missouri

By Robert B. Stein

A recent survey of international students here revealed their top five reasons for coming to Missouri. They are:

1. Welcome, friendly atmosphere
2. Safe environment and low crime rates
3. Low cost of living expenses
4. Spacious campuses with open space and more privacy
5. Diversity

These qualities can be found at every college and university in Missouri, making our state a global education destination.

In 2007, more than 10,500 students from around the globe enrolled in Missouri colleges and universities, an increase of 7.5 percent from the previous year. Missouri is 17^th in the nation in the number of international students who study here. The University of Missouri-Columbia attracts the most international students, with about 1,800, followed by Washington University with about 1,600.

Most international students come to the U.S. to study business and management (19 percent), followed closely by engineering (17 percent). Most pay their own way (82 percent), with institutions providing financial assistance to some (10 percent).

The countries of origin for the majority of students who choose to study in Missouri are India, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, in that order.

The Missouri Department of Higher Education helped launch a statewide initiative to encourage Missouri students to study abroad and attract international students to our institutions. Study Missouri Consortium will soon have a Web site that extols the benefits of studying in Missouri and provides links to our highly regarded institutions.

Bringing students from around the globe to study in Missouri contributes more than $237.8 million to the state’s economy each year. Higher education is a valuable international commodity. Supporting our institutions allows Missouri to successfully compete in the global marketplace.

A Student's Best Frenemy

By Robert B. Stein

Frenemy – Someone who is both a friend and an enemy; a relationship that is mutually beneficial or dependent while being competitive and fraught with risk.

The numbers are out, and they’re not pretty. Missouri’s student loan default rates went up almost 2 percentage points. The good news is that more than 71,000 Missourians are actively repaying their student loans; the bad news is that 4,617 are not.

Loans are students’ friends when they pave the way to a higher standard of living, but are fraught with risk when their allure results in overextending the ability to repay them. Lay-offs, unemployment and a declining economy are making it harder for borrowers to live up to their financial obligations. Repaying student loans competes with daily necessities such as food and shelter.

While there are many circumstances that can’t be prevented, there are ways to minimize debt risks: be conservative in the amount you borrow, finish your academic program if at all possible; and seek help if default seems imminent.

The Missouri Department of Higher Education helps institutions, students and their families make good decisions about planning and paying for college. We consider it one of the most important functions of our agency, and reach out to audiences across the state with a cadre of volunteer staff.

Since 2001, when MDHE began helping institutions improve student financial literacy with Default Prevention Grants, default rates have declined significantly. The chart below shows the declining trend nationally in student loan defaults. To prevent this year’s recent uptick from becoming a trend, we in the higher education community must redouble our efforts to promote financial literacy among students.

Debt has become part of our culture. It is symptomatic of a society that is addicted to consumerism and credit. Students, like any other consumer, get the best value for their money by investing it in something of intrinsic value. Like education.

Universal Wealth Care

By Robert B. Stein

At a time when emotions around the country are running high, it’s healthy to reflect on basic principles commonly shared.

Let’s start with “wealth,” which denotes financial well-being, whether of an individual or the state or nation. If nothing else, the current economic crisis has taught us that wealth is elusive – that resources we counted on can suddenly disappear when we need them most

Maintaining wealth relies on caring for its underlying source. For example, if we owned a gold mine we would be conscientious about its care to prevent decay or disuse to ensure we have its benefit when needed. Why not take a leap and look to our children as our gold mines? When we don’t nurture and support their development their ability to reach their full potential is thwarted and our future wealth as a nation will be lost.

You may be shocked to learn that we are wasting the greatest source of our state’s future wealth and stability. Fully 22 percent of our children will drop out of high school. Many of them will wind up unemployed or incarcerated, where they become public liabilities rather than productive members of society.

Three prominent longitudinal studies point to an eye-opening, attainable solution: early childhood education.

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 helped fund studies that showed a cost/benefit ratio of up to $17 for each $1 spent on high quality early childhood development programs. In one study, 95 percent of at-risk children who participated in such programs graduated from high school; 36 percent attended college and 70 percent were employed at age 21. These were children from impoverished, often single-parent households, many of whom were on public assistance.

Economists note that these programs have much better financial returns than your average stock market investment.

I intend to write more about why early childhood education pays such handsome dividends in future blogs. For now, I pose a question and await your response: Why would we NOT invest in children – the resource on which our future wealth depends?