The Commissioner's Corner

Setting a Trajectory for Success

By Robert B. Stein

Twenty-year-old Ambima “Hammer” Buzhyason faced many obstacles to get from Nigeria to Columbia College, but his tenacity paid off. With a 4.0 GPA and the ambition to go into medicine, Ambima appreciates the school’s low student-teacher ratio and the chance to get individual attention.

“Everyone needs to be mentored to realize their potential,” Ambima says.

Although he won many awards in his village high school, difficult coursework resulted in a 2.6 GPA that didn’t bode well for scholarships. “But I was not demoralized,” he says. “If I start from a low place, I will go up.”

That optimism and confidence eventually landed him here where he studies 10 hours a day for his dual major in biology and chemistry. The college has helped him financially, but he says it is still a struggle to make ends meet.

“The greatest trauma was when I spent all my money on school and didn’t have anything left to live on,” he recalls. “But I had no worries, just faith that things would work out.” And they did: A host family from his church took him in, and the college provided more aid.

Ambima, which means “innocent” in his village’s dialect, inherited the name “Hammer” from his father, who inherited it from his father, a blacksmith. The name has caught on with his fellow students, who see him nailing down facts in the classroom and driving a ball into the soccer goal.

No matter what the future holds for Hammer, when he finishes college he will help address the problems that plague his native country.

“I have big dreams,” he says. “There is a lot to do in Nigeria.” He hopes to help eliminate corruption and discrimination, and bring about positive changes, all without violence. “The gap between the rich and poor is huge. We have many natural resources, but 70 percent of the masses are hungry and live on less than $1 a day.”

Hammer thinks his “big dreams” are realistic. He says, “Where you start doesn’t determine where you will end.”

Everything that Rises

By Robert B. Stein

Today a new organization called Complete College America (CCA) launched a Web site that decries the low levels of college attainment across the country and calls for increased engagement by governors, state policy makers and practitioners to bring about genuine change throughout the nation.

In Missouri, just 37 percent of adults aged 25 – 34 have a college degree. Unless we are able to dramatically change this trend, too many of Missouri’s 9^th graders will not complete a college degree and will not significantly help Missouri compete in the new global economy. The CCA Web site shows completion rates overall for each state, as well as for individual campuses.

Complete College America was formed in 2009 with support from several foundations to focus on dramatically increasing the nation’s college completion rate through state policy change, and increased networking among states and national policy makers on best practices for effective use of limited resources. Through local leadership at the gubernatorial level, 17 states have become inaugural members of the new Complete College America Alliance to help meet President Obama’s goal of annually producing one million more Americans with a college degree to regain our competitive advantage with other nations. While there are no fees required to join, members have agreed to set college completion goals, publish data and work on strategies for improvement.

States on the move tend to agree with the following assumptions:

• College attainment rates in their respective states and the nation are unacceptable.

• Implementation of some best practices is not sufficient to bring about systemic improvement in college attainment.

• Expanded human talent development is essential for stimulating national, state and local economies.

• New partnerships and pathways and effective use of data can help turn what is “possible” into “probable.”

Although Missouri has not yet joined the new Complete College America alliance, energy is converging in our state to build momentum for improving our college attainment rates. Examples of new initiatives include:

• A statewide conference called “Focus on Missouri, a Dialogue on Barriers, Strategies and the Future of College Access” convenes March 2 in Columbia. Experts from around the state and nation will be exploring ways to create a sustainable college-going culture, finance higher education and create policies that foster access to college.

• College presidents/chancellors representing higher educational sectors will meet this month to seek common ground concerning distribution of Missouri’s $95 million need-based student financial aid program. They will start with a fresh slate: what are the right questions, what is the potential, and how do we get there?

• A regional P-20 Governance and Leadership Institute met in St. Joseph Feb. 10 to identify the policy barriers that prevent northwest Missouri from having an aligned, seamless system of learning and to agree on a central message that will help effect positive change.

I applaud the leadership of Complete College America and the states that have committed to rising to the challenge of increasing college attainment by coordinating their statewide efforts and working with colleagues throughout the nation. At the same time, I am excited by the initiatives under way in our state, and encourage all of Missouri’s public policy leaders to focus our lenses on the big picture.