As a higher education reporter this opinion was intriguing. So I did what reporters do, pulled some numbers. Going to the Census' American Factfinder I pulled the percentages for the Shreveport-area.
If you're not from Northwest Louisiana or aren't familiar with it, the Shreveport-Bossier City area has lots higher education options. There are two four year institutions- LSU-Shreveport and Centenary College. There are three two year institutions-Southern University-Shreveport, Bossier Parish Community College, and Louisiana Technical College-Shreveport/Bossier City campus.
Then outside the area, down the street to the east and to the south, are Louisiana Tech, Grambling State, University of Louisiana-Monroe, and Northwestern State University.
With all these schools, some have said that Louisiana has too many of them. The word consolidation has been uttered by politicians and there's even a committee to streamline programs at these schools. Add to that a statewide effort to retain students and to increase graduation rates.
So now you know why I'm interested.
According to the 2005-2007 American Factfinder, 24.4 percent of the local Shreveport area population has a bachelor degree or higher. That's slightly lower than the national average of 27 percent.
Here's the breakdown of the college educated population:
20.1 percent have some college education
4.5 percent have an associate degree
16.1 percent have a bachelor degree
8.3 percent have a grad degree or professional degree
24.3 percent of the population is enrolled in college.
Those numbers will probably go up if what some of the college presidents, chancellors, and officials say is true.
We'll see how the 14 day enrollment count plays out and what the results of the 2010 Census says.
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