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Kansas Regents Schools To Learn New Degree Quotas

kansasregents.org

Kansas higher education officials say in three years, the state needs thousands more students graduating college. Today, the Board of Regents will take a step towards that goal.

Right now about 40,000 students in Kansas are awarded a bachelor’s degree, an associate’s degree or some kind of certification each year.

That number, the state says, needs to bump up to 53,000. To meet the need of businesses in the state, 40 percent will need to be four-year degrees, and the rest will need to be two-year degrees or certificates.

At today’s Board of Regents meeting the seven universities plus 26 technical schools and community colleges will be told just how many more students they each will need to graduate to meet the goal. How they accomplish that will be discussed and decided later.

Higher ed officials say there are three ways to hit the goal: retain more freshman, find more students who want a post-secondary education or -- a major focus -- lure some of the 185,000 Kansans with some college but no degree back into school.

Sam Zeff is a reporter at KCUR, a partner in the Kansas News Service. Follow him on Twitter @SamZeff.

Sam covers education for KCUR and the Kansas News Service. Before joining the station in August 2014 he covered health and education for KCPT.