MnSCU aims to recruit more underrepresented students
By Vickie Lee-Her
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system, which includes Metropolitan State University, is stepping up initiatives to encourage more students of color, first-generation college students, and low-income studentsto attend college. According to the State Demographic Center, Minnesota’s population is quickly diversifying and MnSCU plans to stay ahead of the game by encouraging students to seek higher education.
“We have been reaching out to underrepresented students for quite some time,” says Melinda Voss, MnSCU Public Relations Director. “Historically, the underrepresented groups have not participated in higher education at the same level as other groups, so that is why there is a special outreach to these groups.”
The MnSCU Board of Trustees’ number one goal, as part of its strategic plan, is to raise the participation and achievement in post-secondary education by meeting the needs of students with diverse backgrounds and educational goals. To meet this goal, a new brochure, Make College a part of your future, wall posters, a Web site, and advertising on buses, light rail and bus shelters have been implemented. The brochure and Web site are primarily aimed toward students in 8- through 10th grade and are meant to answer common questions about college such as “Why college?”, “What is college like?”, “Can I afford it?”. 
School counselors are being encouraged to distribute brochures and hang posters to attract attention. The materials are available in English and eight other languages—Dakota, French, Hmong, Ojibwe, Russian, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Voss states that in addition to the state’s diversifying population, a shrinking pool of high school graduates and an aging population point to a shortage of qualified workers for the state’s employers—information pointed out by State Demographer Tom Gillaspy.
Gillaspy also noted that more than a fifth of many important occupation groups, such as registered nurses, pharmacists, secondary teachers, materials and biomedical engineers, truck drivers and tool and die makers, are over age 55. Improving educational attainment in underrepresented groups can help fill that gap.
“The retirement of baby boomers also means Minnesota’s employers will need to replace those workers,” says Voss. “To ensure that we have an adequate and skilled workforce of nurses, educators, technicians and professionals, we will need to make sure more Minnesotans participate in higher education -- whether that’s a two-year degree, a four-year degree or a graduate degree.”
The success of this initiative will be measured by the number of students from targeted groups that enroll in MnSCU colleges and universities among other measures. For more information about this initiative, visit the website yesyoucan.mnscu.edu.
The MnSCU is comprised of 32 institutions, including 25 two-year colleges and seven state universities; it is the largest single provider of higher education in the state of Minnesota. With 54 campuses in 47 Minnesota communities, the MnSCU serves about 250,000 students in credit-based courses with an estimated 34,000 graduates each year. For more information about the MnSCU, visit http://www.mnscu.edu.