CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission has a new goal regarding post-high school achievement: have 60 percent of the state’s population with education beyond a diploma by 2030.
The initiative, West Virginia’s Climb, looks to increase the number of people with two- or four-year degrees as well as job training.
The current attainment rate is 31 percent, but commission Chancellor Paul Hill said he believes reaching the goal is attainable.
“It will be executed through the master planning process that we’ll be putting together for the next five years. And of course, there will be a second piece of that for the following five years to try to come near that goal,” he said. “There are other states that are setting goals as high as 70 percent.”
Hill said a Georgetown University study states 51 percent of jobs in West Virginia by 2020 will require training past a high school diploma, and that number is not going to decrease.
“We have a lot of ground to make up there, but if we don’t set out an ambitious goal to try to drive all of our efforts toward achieving that, then obviously we won’t make it,” he said.
The commission is not alone in its efforts; Hill said the Lumina Foundation has provided the state with a $37,000 grant, and Gov. Jim Justice is also supportive.
A formal announcement will be made in late July.