Idaho continues to languish well behind its lofty college completion goals, according to a newly released national study.
On top of that, Idaho’s numbers rank No. 46 in the nation.
In 2014, 37.7 percent of Idaho’s adults held a postsecondary degree or certificate, the Lumina Foundation wrote in an annual report on college completion rates. The national completion rate was 45.3 percent.
The latest Idaho numbers, released Friday, cast even more doubt on the state’s oft-stated “60 percent goal.” Since 2010, the State Board of Education and Idaho political and business leaders have coalesced behind a 10-year goal to boost college completion rates. They want to see 60 percent of Idaho’s 25- to 34-year-olds hold some form college degree or certificate.
The 2016 Legislature restated its support for the goal, through the form of a nonbinding resolution. But even in passing the resolution, some lawmakers conceded their 2020 target date is ambitious — if not impossible.
“(It’s) a stretch goal,” House Education Committee Chairman Reed DeMordaunt, R-Eagle, said during floor debate in March.